Senator SESELJA (Australian Capital Territory—Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) (15:09): I wanted to start by responding to the last part of Senator McAllister's contribution where in attacking the coalition she ignores the record rates of female workforce participation in this nation under a coalition government. She ignores those inconvenient facts for herself. She talks about there being no women in this coalition government when we have the highest number of women in a cabinet in the history of our Commonwealth. Those criticisms should be seen for what they are, because they are not backed up by the facts. This government will always prioritise participation in the workforce for women, allowing families to make choices. That has been our government's record, that's what we'll continue to do and that's what our policies are directed at. You do have to take a step back—before I go into some of the stats re child care and the support that the coalition and the Morrison government has been giving to child care and to families accessing child care over a number of years—and ask the question when you hear from the Labor Party and their critique on child care: who does the modern Labor Party represent? They are arguing against a childcare policy which has absolutely prioritised those on low and middle incomes. This is the government that actually said we are going to give a higher rate of subsidy to those on low and middle incomes, yet we have a Labor Party who claims to represent workers and who would say: 'No. What you actually have to do is give more subsidies to those on very high incomes.' That is the Labor Party's policy and that is the Labor Party's critique when it comes to child care. When we hear this line of questioning and this line of attack from the Labor Party, I am reminded of the comments of Joel Fitzgibbon, when he said he wanted to put 'labour' back into the Labor Party, because it is extraordinary. I'm old enough to remember when people didn't have to say things like, 'Let's put "labour" back into the Labor Party,' because perhaps many years ago, perhaps when I was just a young man—a very young man—Labor may have had a reputation as actually supporting workers and perhaps a reputation, once upon a time, once perhaps in the distant past, as actually supporting low- and middle-income workers. But what we have is a modern Labor Party who has forgotten about those noble roots, dare I say it, of a once great Labor Party who used to represent those kind of workers and now needs to be reminded— Senator Watt: You never did. Senator SESELJA: I never did? I'll compare backgrounds with you. When you were campaigning for the legalisation of dope at university I was working as a cleaner, mate. I'm not going to take interjections from Senator Murray Watt. We understand what it's like to earn a living, and the modern Labor Party— Senator Watt interjecting— Senator SESELJA: That interjection again! I worked as a cleaner. I've done the hard jobs, mate. Apart from agitating for drug law reform, mate, with your mates at university, I'm not really sure what your cred is on this. The modern Labor Party, I'll tell you, doesn't have a lot of cred. When it comes to child care, they are now putting to the Australian people and to the government that instead of in fact prioritising low- and middle-income earners—as we are doing—we should be giving higher rates of subsidy to higher income earners. This is a government that has a proud record of delivering for families, a proud record of keeping childcare rates as low as it possibly can, as opposed to the Labor Party's policy which saw the out-of-pocket costs of child care up 53 per cent during their term in government. Their policies have been proven to fail, and that is why you have this existential crisis within the Labor Party where you get the wiser heads like Joel Fitzgibbon saying to the Labor Party: 'You need to remember who you are. We need to actually put the "labour" back into the Labor Party.' Our childcare package supports low-income earners and middle-income earners. It supports families who are doing it toughest. It supports them in making the choices that they want to make to get on and look after their families.