Page 472 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020

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Then, of course, we had Ms Berry’s curious contribution, which was hardly relevant to the motion at all. But the thing that was particularly interesting was what she had to say about early childhood education, this, incidentally, coming from the person who put forward legislation that involved the sacking of every migrant worker or non-citizen in the cleaning industry who could not work under her policy.

The minister came in here and said that there should not be anyone making profit in early childhood education. I would happily give way to the Deputy Chief Minister to clarify this case. Ms Berry, I am giving you this opportunity right now to reaffirm your position. The Deputy Chief Minister can keep having this conversation, but the reality is she will keep blaming the commonwealth. She will blame everyone but herself. Is it her position that there should be no profit or no businesses in the early education space? That is what she just said.

She said that we have all these horrible for-profit providers in the ACT. There are hundreds of people working in this industry. Thousands of Canberra families depend on these child-care centres right across the ACT. The other particularly interesting thing about this is the Labor Party, through the 1973 Foundation, gets $631,000 a year from a for-profit childhood education provider; that is, $630,000 from GH Education goes into the 1973 Foundation, which is the funding arm for the ACT Labor Party. That means $630,000 comes from the very industry that she says has been horribly privatised.

Once again, you see the extreme hypocrisy on display. Those opposite say they do not like pokie revenue, but pokies rake in millions for this ACT Labor Party. They say that they do not like for-profit early childhood education providers, yet they get $630,000 a year from their tenant in Sydney, the 1973 Foundation. Let us not forget that this is the 1973 Foundation that does not invest in Canberra. It invests in Sydney, at Five Dock, where GH Education is a tenant.

This government, comprising members from Labor and the Greens, is so hypocritical. Its members do not care about those who are doing it tough. They do not care about the 7,000 kids in the ACT living in poverty. They do not care about the struggling families, the working poor, the retired poor. They do not care about the thousands of people experiencing transport disadvantage as a result of their policies. They simply do not care about anything other than clinging to power—and that can all change in October.

MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (11.34): Madam Assistant Speaker, I seek leave under section 47 of the standing orders to be heard again. I have been misquoted or misunderstood in my speech.

Leave granted.


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