Families will be guaranteed three days of subsidized childcare, while $1 billion will go towards expanding quality and access as Labor sharpens its election pitch.
If Labor is re-elected, families earning less than $530,000 will qualify for the scheme which will replace an activity test that has been described as punitive, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised as he launched the policy.
“You don’t help families under pressure by taking away the price of strollers,” Albanese told the party faithful in Brisbane on Wednesday.
“Australia is not being prepared to compete and succeed by retaining children or leaving them behind.”
It would benefit about 66,000 families, Albanese said.
The activity test requires parents to have paid work to access subsidies.
“Parents do not need to go through bureaucracy or work a set number of hours to want the best possible education for their children,” said Mr. Albanese.
Commonwealth childcare subsidies would increase by $3.1 billion over four years, helping an extra 200,000 children into early education, an upcoming mid-year budget update will reveal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) has promised his government will guarantee three days of subsidized childcare if Labor wins the next election.
There were 34,000 more early childhood teachers employed and 125,000 in training, he said.
“We are training more early childhood educators and paying them more,” Mr. Albanese said, pointing to a legislated 15 percent pay increase.
The $1 billion fund, to be implemented beginning in July 2025, will focus on offering services at school sites where possible and supporting the growth of high-quality nonprofit providers.
The three-day child care guarantee will replace the activity test starting in January 2026 and will cost $427 million over five years.
Advocacy group The Parenthood said helping children in their early years was crucial, as one in five children starting school are “developmentally vulnerable”.
This figure rose to two in five among Indigenous children, chief executive Georgie Dent said.
“When children are late to school, they find it incredibly difficult to catch up with their peers throughout their lives,” he told Sky News.
Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley criticized the removal of the activity test and said childcare places were scarce, especially in rural towns.
Child care subsidies would increase by $3.1 billion over four years, supporting hundreds and thousands of children according to a mid-year budget update (file image pictured).
Long waiting lists could discourage families from moving to the regions, he said.
“We have to have that priority for working families, because it has to be fundamental to the actual provision of child care,” she said.
But its removal was welcomed by Ms Dent, who called it “a punitive policy that has excluded up to 126,000 children, particularly from low-income households, disadvantaged backgrounds and First Nations children”.
Its removal was also welcomed by the National Aboriginal and Islander Childcare Secretariat, with the peak body saying it would help close the gap.
But Greens early childhood education spokesperson Steph Hodgins-May said the reforms fell short as parents would still have to pay high fees and long waiting lists, meaning some children would still be left without access. .
A Productivity Commission report in September found that children from vulnerable or disadvantaged communities would benefit most from early years education, but were the least likely to attend.
A universal child care system would ensure that all children up to five years old have access to high-quality education and child care for at least 30 hours or three days a week, for 48 weeks a year, according to the report.
The best way to accomplish this and increase assistance for low- and middle-income people was to eliminate the activity test and expand funding for families earning up to $80,000 and households under $140,000 with multiple children under five.