Taxpayers should not have to subsidise childcare because having children is a lifestyle choice, crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm said.
The Liberal Democrat senator, who holds one of the key crossbench seats in the Senate, said he would not support any increase to childcare payments because it is unfair to childless people.
“Having kids is not a social service that governments should subsidise, it is a choice,” Leyonhjelm said.
The statement echoes prime minister Tony Abbott’s comments that Indigenous people living in remote communities represents a “lifestyle choice”. Abbott was criticised for the comments by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander community leaders, who said they were simplistic and did not reflect the connection many felt with their ancestral land.
The social services minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to release the government’s families policies, which includes the childcare package, before the May federal budget.
He is considering scrapping the $7,500 cap on childcare rebates in exchange for cutting back the rebate for wealthy families.
Morrison has received feedback from well-off parents that the cap was an inhibitor to workforce participation.
“For higher income earners, people earning over $180,000 in family income, what is more important to those families ... is the inflexibility of the cap rather than the level of subsidy,” he told News Corp Australia.
