Nationals senators have urged the government not to overlook single-income families when finalising its childcare package, saying parenting is “the most important job we will ever have”.
The social services minister, Scott Morrison, has indicated that the government would take on the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report on childcare when drafting its policy. He is consulting industry stakeholders and is expected to release the policy before the federal budget.
The group of Nationals senators wants assurances the package would leave rural women, many of whom are stay-at-home mothers, no worse off.
The Nationals hold five of the Coalition’s 33 seats in the Senate.
One of the options on the table is the splitting of single incomes between couples in order to double the tax-free threshold.
“There are a million families that rely on just one income,” the Queensland senator Matt Canavan said, acknowledging that the group of senators would not be “dogmatic” about the income-splitting proposal.
The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates income splitting would cost $1.5bn, which Canavan admitted was a lot of money in a “tough” budgetary environment. “We’re happy for it to be means-tested to bring down costs,” he said.
Canavan said the party was willing to look at other options for single-income families when the childcare package is formally announced.
The senator said there “certainly is sympathy” within the Coalition for the Nationals’ position on protecting stay-at-home parents in the final childcare package.
In an opinion piece written for the Australian Financial Review, Canavan said income splitting “would not fully remove the tax that is placed on the stay-at-home decision, but it would provide some relief and confirmation that our jobs as mums and dads are the most important jobs we will ever have”.
The Nationals were vocal opponents of Tony Abbott’s generous paid parental leave scheme, saying it put low-income rural families at a disadvantage.
Canavan dismissed suggestions the party was being obstructive by speaking out on the childcare package before it has been finalised.
“We are being a voice for single-income families,” he said. “We are a separate party [and] we form a substantial part of the Senate.”
The Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie said there were a range of reasons rural electorates had a high number of single-income families.
“Housing affordability means we sometimes can afford one parent to take a couple of years off. Also, economic conditions mean [there are] less job opportunities available,” she said.
“Having a one-size-fits-all childcare package just doesn’t work.”
She wanted Morrison to look at ways in which barriers to accessing childcare and attracting highly-qualified childcare workers in rural areas could be minimised.
McKenzie supported the extension of childcare rebates to nannies, saying she backed “flexible options” for rural women.
The Productivity Commission report estimated that there were 165,000 parents who would like to get back into work, or work more hours, if appropriate childcare were available.
Morrison told the Australian Financial Review: “These are the families we are primarily seeking to support through this package. .
“The government does not want to interfere with how families choose to raise their children – this is a decision for them.”
Morrison’s office did not respond to Guardian Australia’s request for comment.
Labor wants the government to reinstate funding cuts to welfare payments announced in the last federal budget.
The acting opposition spokeswoman on families, Jenny Macklin, said: “Labor has been calling on the government to drop its cuts to families – including single-parent families – for nearly a year. We will continue to oppose these cuts in the Senate until they are dumped forever.
“If Scott Morrison is serious about delivering for Australian families, he needs to drop these cuts immediately.”
