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AAP
AAP
Politics
Dominic Giannini

Labor takes another step towards universal childcare

Anthony Albanese said child care is not a luxury, as he launched a key Labor election policy. (Russell Freeman/AAP PHOTOS)

CHILDCARE

*Families earning less than $530,000 will be eligible for three days of subsidised childcare each week from July 2026 

*The plan will cost taxpayers $427 million over five years 

*A $1 billion Building Early Education Fund will go to starting/expanding 160 centres from July

*Services will be co-located on school sites where possible 

*A controversial activity test requiring parents to be in paid work to access subsidies will be scrapped from July 2026

*The reforms will benefit 66,000 families

UPCOMING MID-YEAR BUDGET UPDATE

*Commonwealth childcare subsidies will increase $3.1 billion over four years (in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook to be released in mid-December)

*This will support an extra 200,000 children

RESPONSES

*The subsidy increase and scrapping of the activity test was welcomed by The Parenthood and the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC)

*Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley questioned the scheme's sustainability and fairness 

*She also criticised dumping the activity test, saying there had to be a priority for working families.

QUOTES

"Child care isn't a luxury, it's an essential service for modern families." - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

"Who is going to pay? We want to see affordable, accessible childcare, of course we do, but it has to be sustainable." - Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley

"We've got this window between zero and five, where we can set the trajectory of a little person's life." - The Parenthood chief executive Georgie Dent

"This can be a game-changer for our babies. It will mean more children developmentally ready for school, setting them up for a thriving future." - SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle

"We were hoping for genuine reform, but instead, Labor continues to tinker around the edges and kick the can of universal early childhood education and care to the next election cycle." - Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May

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