Education Minister Simon Birmingham says Bill Shorten should stop talking with a "forked tongue" on child care and back the government's reform package at a time of escalating fees.
But the opposition leader says while clearly there is a problem in the child care sector, he won't be "bullied" into something that is "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
Senator Birmingham has declined to speculate on the progress of getting the government's child care package through the parliament but says new data showing rising costs for parents paint a "disturbing picture".
As parliamentarians return to Canberra for the final two sitting weeks before the May budget, a new report shows a 7.6 per cent increase in child care fees, including a 6.3 per cent increase in long day care fees.
The government has a child care package before the parliament as part of an omnibus bill that includes cuts to family benefits which Labor, the Greens and others oppose.
But Senator Birmingham says families are facing a "double whammy' of slow wage growth but childcare fees increasing three times the speed of the economy, demonstrating the system needs reforming.
His message to Mr Shorten: "Stop speaking with forked tongue."
"Stop blocking the actual solutions that are on the table, and to actually support us to pay for the reforms that can invest more in child care, keep a lid on price growth, and make it more affordable and available for Australian families," the minister told reporters in Adelaide.
Mr Shorten said there was clearly a child care problem with fees going up and up which was becoming a disincentive for people to return to work.
But he said it was not good enough Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his government to blame someone else for four years of inaction on the issue.
"Why does he want to link improvements to child care to cuts to family benefits," he told reporters in Melbourne
"If Mr Turnbull wants to pay for the childcare reforms he can drop his unsustainable $50 billion worth corporate tax giveaway, it's as easy as that."
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said if the parliament stymied the package it would be on the shoulders of the Senate and Labor as to why families were not looked after.
He said the government was taking prudent measures while assisting families
"We have to get the budget back into balance," Mr Joyce told ABC television.
"If we don't get this under control, then in 10, 15, or whatever years' time, we won't have support for child care because we won't have any money."
