The Australian Greens say Tony Abbott is trying to burn up important protections in his so-called regulation bonfire.

"When Tony Abbott has a bonfire of regulations he hides his true agenda in the smoke," Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

"The Prime Minister's rhetoric on this repeal day is all about storytelling and hiding help for his mates. Many of these changes are routine review of redundant regulations, but there are some very bitter pills.

The Greens are standing up for greater quality and affordability in early education and care. We are fully committed to the national quality reforms being rolled out across the country, and only the Greens have proposed a fully-costed way to back that commitment up with effective financial investment.

The Australian Greens have released their fully costed paid parental leave scheme today which is designed to support Australian families and help women stay in the workforce.

Read the full plan: Balancing Work and Family, Better Paid Parental Leave.

"Labor's scheme scrapes together the bare minimum without superannuation whilst Tony Abbott's plan is inequitable," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

After the release of an Australia Institute report that shows more than one in three families are struggling with the cost of childcare, the Greens are calling for direct funding to childcare centres to easing cost of living pressure on parents.

“The fact that so many families are struggling to pay for childcare is a problem that cannot be ignored,” the Greens’ childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Greens will continue their push for a much needed inquiry into the childcare sector tomorrow, calling on the Senate to order the Productivity Commission to produce a report on the best way of funding childcare in Australia.

The Senate passed a Greens motion calling on the government to establish a Productivity Commission inquiry into the sector in May of last year and it is well beyond time for that investigation to begin, the Greens say.

The Australian Greens have said that it’s time for the Labor Party to get serious about parental leave, making it an enforceable workplace entitlement with proper pay.

“If we acknowledge that pregnant women need more rights at work, including time off, then we should go all the way and legislate to make adequate leave a workplace entitlement with pay,” the Greens youth and childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

Investment in the childcare sector is needed to ensure as many Australian children as possible get the best start in life, the Australian Greens said today.

“The government needs to do more to ensure that we have quality childcare across Australia, rather than listen to Tony Abbott who thinks that high quality care for our children is just a burden on the sector,” the Greens childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

A Greens survey of over 230 childcare centres across Australia has found that fees and waiting lists are continuing to grow while the number of available places is shrinking.

"Several concerning trends have arisen from the survey which clearly shows that many parents will be finding it harder to enrol their children into childcare today than they were two years ago,” the Greens childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“Both fees and waiting lists are continuing to grow while the proportion of centres with places available is shrinking.

The Greens have announced a Treasury costed scheme today that would help to attract hundreds of teachers into childcare centres around the country, while also encouraging them to stay in the industry.

The scheme would see a year of HELP debt waived for every year that tertiary educated teachers remain in the long day care sector (more information on the scheme is included in the media briefing attached).

The Greens have called on the government to clarify their position on child care, after it sought to distance itself from reports yesterday which claimed Julia Gillard was set to commit $1.4 billion to raising the wages of the industry’s underpaid workers.

“We live in a country where child care professionals get paid less than the people who clean the centres in which they work,” Greens child care spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said today.