Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

At the last federal election, Labor promised life would be cheaper under them yet interest rates, petrol prices, gas and grocery bills continue to go up, and it is clear that this Labor government has no real plan to bring them down. Now, early childhood education costs are going up, with the latest CPI data showing costs increased by a whopping 4.5 per cent in December 2022. That is the largest quarterly increase outside the reversal of COVID measures since 2007. Fees are rising, with one major provider increasing fees last month. It is only a matter of time before other providers follow suit.

Labor promised Australian families they would reduce out-of-pocket costs for early childhood education without fuelling inflation and yet ,with costs increasing, families deserve to know how much of their extra subsidy will be immediately lost to higher fees. It is clear this government has no idea what they are doing when it comes to policy. They have no plan to address rising fees, no plan to address concerns raised by educators and no plan on how to address the increasing lack of access to services faced by more than nine million Australians. The Albanese government has had eight months to address the rising cost of living and they have done nothing. Labor said it had a plan. Its budget shows there is no plan. Australian families deserve to know why they always pay more under Labor. (Time expired)

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