Ash Gillon: Joining me live now is the Liberal Senator Matt O’Sullivan, who’s been appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning. Good to see you, thanks for coming in to the studio.
Senator O’Sullivan: Thanks for having me, Ash.
Ash Gillon: Now your title probably tells us a bit about your priorities in this area. We know that we’re spending more taxpayer dollars than ever in childcare, but what is it about a lack of choice that you think families are dealing with at the moment?
Senator O’Sullivan: Well, thanks Ash. As Angus Taylor has said, this decision to appoint this ministry is all about providing choice to families. We want to make sure that parents are in the driving seat when it comes to choosing the care for their children. Unfortunately, under the government’s one-size-fits-all system, the only option that you’ve really got is institutional care that is centre-based daycare or early learning centres and we want to provide choice to families. There are many ways that you could achieve that, many ways you could do it and that’s my job – is to look at all those options on what we can really do to provide that choice for families who know best for what’s there for their children.
Ash Gillon: So, in terms of practical solutions to that. What is on the table here. I’ve seen reports of vouchers for nannies or tax offsets, is that the path you’re going down?
Senator O’Sullivan: Well, look. I’m not going to rule in or rule out any particular option only 24 hours after taking on the portfolio, but there are many suggestions as to how you could do this. A voucher system is one of them; there’s tax deduction for childcare expenses as another. Some suggest you could do income splitting for households and treat the taxable income across a household. There are many ways that you could look at it.
Unfortunately, with a lot of these ideas, they are dogged by a huge cost or complexity in terms of how you’d actually implement it. So, my job is to work that out. I’m really keen to get feedback from your listeners and from people in the community about what they think is best. We’ve got some ideas and we’re going to work through those, get them costed, get them factored in. We’ve just got to make sure that we’ve got the right flexibility for families. As you’ve pointed out, the cost of childcare has gone up significantly. We’re spending nearly $17 billion on it. I’m sure there’s some funding within that margin, within that portfolio, to be able to make the options work so that families have got the best option for their kids.
Ash Gillon: Okay, we’ll watch that space. Look forward to seeing where you head on that one. I want to ask you about a big story, news of the day today: the so-called ISIS brides’ apparent imminent arrival back in Australia. Is it that the Coalition doesn’t trust the security agencies to be across this, to do their job properly and ensure that this isn’t representing a risk to Australia?
Senator O’Sullivan: Well, this is the problem. There is no transparency, there is no guidance on what the government actually know about what’s been going on here. And that’s what’s concerning to us as a Coalition. We want the government to be completely up-front in relation to what they know and what assistance has been provided. Now, the Prime Minister told us yesterday that there’s been no assistance provided, yet today he’s saying that actually they’ve been provided passports. So what actually else is going on here? What has Tony Burke been doing behind the scenes? He’s got questions that he needs to answer in terms of the support that he’s provided—maybe through back doors, through Dr. Riffi, who’s been, we know, assisting these people. He’s been over there and he’s providing fundraising to be able to repatriate these ISIS brides. And it’s unacceptable that we’re not getting a full, transparent answer to a lot of these questions, and we think they really should.
Ash Gillon: I notice another one of your roles—let me get the title right here—Shadow Minister for Child Protection and Prevention of Family Violence. Where do the children fit in here? The children coming back in this cohort, what about their rights?
Senator O’Sullivan: Look, absolutely, this is a sensitive and difficult issue that must be dealt with, and there are precedents of where children have been treated separately from their parents. And but of course, you know, this needs to be dealt with the security of Australians in mind to make sure that anyone that’s coming back here… I heard Jonathon Duniam, my friend and Senator from Tasmania, talk about the fact that some of these children are now in their teens, and so they’ve had years of possible indoctrination having been involved alongside ISIS and involved in potentially activities alongside and with ISIS. So, of course, you’ve got to make sure that there’s no security implication for having them come back, but we should, of course, deal with children in a separate way to the parents who knowingly, knowingly, went over with their husbands to associate and be alongside ISIS, who have obviously engaged in the most abhorrent activity and ideology that we certainly should not see here in Australia.
Ash Gillon: Just finally, what is your sense—first week of Angus Taylor being in the job? It was a bit of a messy start, I’ve got to say, at the beginning of the week, the leaking of that immigration document that apparently no one had seen but seemed to come up with ideas that perhaps Angus Taylor was looking at pursuing. It wasn’t the best start. Are you worried that there are some colleagues perhaps who might be out to cause a bit of trouble for the new leader?
Senator O’Sullivan: Oh, look, that was curious. Of course, we’re not sure because even the Minister—or Shadow Minister, I should say—Jonno Duniam hadn’t seen this document, hadn’t gone through leadership, and certainly hadn’t gone through Cabinet—Shadow Cabinet—or indeed the party room. So, look, I can’t attest to the veracity of that document; it’s not something I’m going to necessarily comment on because I never saw it either.
But what, look, I think Angus has hit the ground running. Obviously, the Shadow Ministry team presents a mix of people with great experience and also new energy and a new generation of people coming through. Obviously, like myself and others that have been given this opportunity, that are hungry for it, that want to really make something of it, and I’m really excited about the opportunity that’s there for all of us as a Coalition to present a fresh look and a fresh look at a lot of issues that the country’s dealing with right now.
Ash Gillon: Matt O’Sullivan, thanks for coming in. Good to see you.
Senator O’Sullivan: Thanks Ash.