Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every child deserves the best possible start in life, but right now too many kids are missing out on early education because of outdated rules that just don't work. The Liberals' activity test has been making it harder for families, especially those who need it most, to access early childhood education. In 2018 their changes meant that kids from low-income families lost access to crucial learning time. That's why we're introducing the three-day guarantee.

This is the critical difference between those opposite and the Albanese Labor government. Those opposite want to test, and we want to guarantee. The coalition want to test families' ability to access and pay for child care, to test whether your child deserves an education and to test whether you deserve to go back to work, and they'll be the judge of whether or not you pass. The Liberals' activity test, introduced in 2018, promised to encourage workforce participation and simplify childcare payments. Instead, it did the opposite. Data shows that thousands of children from low-income families lost access to early education. More than 25,000 families didn't pass the coalition's test of who deserved affordable early childhood education and who did not. The number of children in low-income families in early education dropped from around 32,000 in 2018 to just 6,500 in 2019—an extraordinary drop. These are the children who would benefit most from early learning, yet they were the ones who were left behind. The Liberals won't support kids and families who need good-quality and affordable early childhood education, but they will support free lunches for bosses. We can see the priorities that those opposite have.

Early childhood education is not just about learning letters and numbers; it's about building confidence, curiosity and a lifelong love for learning. That's why our government is introducing the three-day guarantee. We believe government should be here to guarantee your child has access to quality early learning, to guarantee that learning will be high quality and affordable, and to guarantee that if you choose to go back to work you can do so. From January 2026, all families will be guaranteed three days—that's 72 hours—of subsidised early education each fortnight. For First Nations children, we are guaranteeing 100 hours. More than 100,000 families will see increased education hours. More than 66,000 families will be better off in the first full financial year of the implementation of this policy. Let me be clear—no family will be worse off.

But this is just one step. Our commitment to universal early education goes beyond these changes. We've already made child care more affordable for more than one million families. We've secured a 15 per cent pay increase for early educators because they deserve to be paid fairly for the invaluable work they do in nurturing the minds of our very youngest. We are investing an additional $1 billion to build and expand childcare centres in areas where families need them most: our outer suburbs, regions and remote communities. Critics argue that this policy will put pressure on supply, that there aren't enough childcare places, but let me give you the facts. Since we came into government, we have seen the establishment of more than 1,000 new childcare services, including 325 in regional and remote areas. That's 90,000 additional places in early education and care. Still, we know there is more to do. That's why we're not just investing in more places; we're also tackling affordability and quality, and as part of this reform we are introducing an early education service delivery price to ensure funding is sustainable, that services remain accessible and that families aren't priced out of the system.

The experts are backing us. Dr Angela Jackson from Impact Economics found that the current activity test actually discourages parents from entering the workforce. The Australian Institute of Family Studies reviewed the Liberals' childcare reforms from 2021 and found that the so-called simplifications made the system harder to navigate and pushed children from disadvantaged families out of early education. These reforms simply did not work. An independent economic analysis shows that scrapping the activity test will boost Australia's productivity and workforce participation, especially for single mothers, First Nations families, and parents in casual and shift work. This change just makes sense.

We've all heard the argument that we can't afford to get rid of the activity test, but the truth is we can't afford not to. We know that children who start school behind their peers often struggle to catch up. We know that investing in early education reduces inequality and lifts entire communities and families, and we know that when we support families we strengthen our economy. That's why Labor is making these changes; when we invest in our children, we invest in our nation's future. This is about fairness, this is about opportunity, this is about ensuring that no child, no matter their background, is left behind, and this is about the fundamental difference between the government and the opposition. They want to test Australian families, and we want to guarantee that they are supported.

See this speech in context