Government MPs argue on childcare funding, point of contention for Matt Canavan, Gerard Rennick

The major plank of the government's May budget package for women was an extra $1.7 billion in childcare subsidy funding, which would increase the subsidy for parents who have more than one child in care at a time.

It's already been a point of contention for some backbenchers, including Queensland senators Matt Canavan and Gerard Rennick, who have publicly spoken out against the extra funding since the budget was handed down.

Nine MPs spoke in the meeting on the issue, including members who wanted the government to offer more support to those who wanted to care for their children in a home setting, including nannies for rural families.

One member asked why the sector needed more support when it was already getting $10 billion a year from the government.

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In the first joint party room meeting since Barnaby Joyce was elected leader of the Nationals and sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, the issue of childcare funding appeared to create the greatest division in the meeting.

Despite many of the contributions made in favour of the funding coming from women, a senior source in the meeting said he didn't view the debate through a gender lens.

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