Luxton Jo; Tinetti JanHon JO LUXTON (Labour): Thank you Mr Chair. I'm only on to the second page of this regulatory impact statement and I've got several questions that I would like to ask the Minister here. I do know that the fees structures in early childhood education (ECE) centres vary very broadly across many centres and there is no oversight exactly of what centres charge parents in the way of fees. I note here that it says here that The lack of fees data also impacts the practicability of a tax credit linked to childcare expenditure." So if you don't have that data how do you determine what is the best way to provide this tax credit? Would it not have been more prudent for the Minister or ministry to undertake a whole lot of work around the fees and fee structures of ECE centres in order to deliver a better option?The second question I have for the Minister is—I note here that it says "Inland Revenue has not been able to undertake any consultation with the public due to time constraints and Budget secrecy conventions" and I get that but this very policy impacts the very public the people who are most important and who are most affected by this change. There has been no consultation with parents in order to understand what they think about this proposed policy. And I know that it talks about Budget secrecy. However the National Party did campaign on this so I believe there's been plenty of time to consult with parents about their views on whether this was actually going to be workable. We've heard that it's going to be terribly terribly administratively burdensome. So my question is: why on earth was there no consultation undertaken with parents who this impacts the most?Hon JAN TINETTI (Labour): Thank you Mr Chair. I too want to talk about and ask a question to the Minister about the people who this policy will impact the most which perhaps according to the regulatory impact statement will make early childhood education (ECE) more restrictive to that demographic and to those people. There seems to be a lack of consultation between Education here and Inland Revenue and other demographics. It just seems to be a messy policy. Last night the Early Childhood Council came out and said that this Budget didn't deliver for their members and in fact that it was actually like a cut to their members. Now this is the Early Childhood Council who have very traditionally probably been more right leaning on the political spectrum but they are very disappointed in what this Budget means for them. And I notice in the regulatory impact statement that it says that "It is anticipated that without Government intervention the current high inflation environment and trends in the price measures for the ECE sector may result in ECE costs continuing to increase." Now that's exactly what was said to the Minister of Education last night by the Early Childhood Council—that is that this doesn't meet the rate of inflation. And so therefore they are going to possibly have to put those costs and those cuts as they see it back on to the people who are accessing their services. What that means is that fees are likely to rise for those parents because they cannot sustain the services that they have at the moment.Now we hear that this FamilyBoost is about increasing participation. Those two just do not match up. They cannot match up because when you've got on one hand the Early Childhood Council saying that it is like a cut for their members and then you've got in this the FamilyBoost saying that this will increase participation it just can't. It absolutely can't. So I'm really concerned about those demographics that find it really expensive now those people who come from low socio-economic backgrounds who need early childhood education to be able to get themselves back into the workforce to be able to participate in the workforce and to actually give their young people a really good start in life through a really solid education. Those things really concern me and it actually says that in the regulatory impact statement in paragraph 11. It says "If ECE costs do rise"—and we've already had that signalled over the last two days—"an increasing number of families may no longer be able to afford some ECE hours. This may restrict their ability to work or could result in pressure on other types of families spending to maintain ECE hours consequently reducing families' income adequacy work incentives and/or ECE participation rates." Now that is really serious—really serious. Not only does it stop people accessing the workforce but it hinders those young people who need that great start in education the most being able to access it.So I have a really important question for the Minister. Surely the modelling has been done around this with something that this party and the National Party campaigned on very much when they were in their campaign mode. They must have done the modelling around those demographics who would actually be hindered by this. I want to know what that modelling showed. I want to know how many young people from those low socio-economic demographics who need quality education quality early childhood education the most. How many will this hurt? Just like it says in the regulatory impact statement how many will not be able to access that childcare? How many people will have work restrictions put on them because of this poorly thought-out policy?"