Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the wonderful member for Robertson for their question. The member for Robertson understands, as do we on this side of the House, that, when we talk about early childhood education and care, we're talking about an essential service. It's a service that families rely on to study, to work, and to pay the household bills. That's why the Albanese Labor government is undertaking reform of the sector, based on three key pillars: affordable early learning, a strong early childhood education and care workforce and a system that's accessible.

So far, our reforms have delivered real cost-of-living relief for Australian families. In fact, more than one million families have benefitted from our cheaper childcare reforms, a commitment that we made before we came into government. A family earning $120,000 a year, accessing 30 hours of early learning a week, has saved around $2,768 since September 2023. But we know that there is more to do, and today I introduced the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025. This bill will guarantee families at least 72 hours of subsidised early learning a fortnight, and for First Nations families this increases to 100 hours of subsidised early learning a fortnight. Our guarantee replaces the Liberals' activity test, which locked out families and did nothing to increase workforce participation. That's because only an Albanese Labor government understand that quality early learning provides the opportunity to improve a child's lifelong trajectory, and we believe that there should be no barriers to opportunity.

The three-day guarantee will mean real cost-of-living relief for over 66,000 families, saving them an average of around $1,370 per year. About half of those families earn less than $100,000. Lower-income families get to save even more, an average of around $1,460 a year. It also means that over 100,000 families can get more subsidised hours of early childhood education and care if they want or need it. This bill will help parents get back into the workforce and give meaningful support to families struggling with the cost of living.

But I am asked about risks, and the risks are right there on the coalition benches. The Leader of the Opposition has confirmed he's going to make huge cuts, but Australians won't know what those cuts are until after the election. We're taking action to deliver cost-of-living relief for families. The Leader of the Opposition wants to gift his business mates free lunches. (Time expired)

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