24th Aug 2020, 5:49 PM – Representatives Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020 - Second Reading - Keep second reading motion unchanged

The majority voted in favour of a motion to keep the original second reading motion unchanged. A second reading motion is a motion "That this bill be now read a second time" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill.

This vote was put after Kingston MP Amanda Rishworth (Labor) introduced an amendment.

Proposed amendment

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that:

(1) the Government will snap back to the complex and expensive child care subsidy system on 13 July and end its poorly targeted and unfunded 'free child care' response;

(2) families will start paying child care fees again, even after the Treasurer admitted Australia was in a recession, and fees soared by 7.2 per cent in the last year;

(3) unaffordable child care will now force families, particularly women, to reconsider returning to work and could act as a handbrake on Australia's economic recovery; and

(4) early childhood workers have been ripped out of the JobKeeper program, three days after the Prime Minister promised there would be no changes until September"