Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Early Childhood Education. What action has the Albanese Labor government taken to build a universal early education system that is simple, affordable and accessible for every family? Is there anything that could put this at risk and leave families worse off?

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

I thank the wonderful member for Corangamite for her question. The member for Corangamite has demonstrated her commitment to children and families in her electorate by backing in every single one of our cost-of-living measures, whether that's on health, whether that's on tax relief or whether, indeed, that's on early childhood and care.

In our first term of government we've made progress towards our vision of a simple, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care system. On affordability: our cheaper child care reduced the out-of-pocket costs for early childhood education and care by 17 per cent when it was first introduced. That means that a family on $120,000 is $2,768 better off because of this government. We're building on that by putting in fee caps as well.

On workforce: workforce, of course, underpins the reforms we want to make in early childhood education and care. We introduced reforms to stabilise and grow the workforce. Our 15 per cent pay rise, I'm pleased to say, now has applications that cover around 80 per cent of the early childhood education workforce. And we have a $72 million workforce package, as well as our fee-free TAFE, helping to grow that sector. Because of these actions, we now have 41,900 more educators in the sector.

But it doesn't stop there. Recently, we changed the Liberals' prohibitive activity test, replacing that with a three-day guarantee of subsidised care. That means 70,000 families will save $1,370 in the first year alone. And we've dedicated $1 billion to grow early childhood education services in areas where they're needed, including rural, regional and outer suburbs, to be run by high-quality not-for-profit service providers. But we know there's more to do, and that is why we have commissioned a service delivery price to inform our future reform.

I'm asked about risks. Well, today the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods confirms that around two-thirds of all Australians, led by single-parent families and middle-income families, have gained up to $2½ thousand through our tax cuts, child care and parental leave since the Albanese Labor government came into office. That's real money—real money into the pockets of families—and that is how you do cost-of-living relief. That is how you do it. And this is how you risk it: you risk it by voting for an opposition that has no vision, no plan and no policy. While we're reforming education to build a better future for the next generation, the opposition want to keep the next generation paying for their $600 billion nuclear fantasy. (Time expired)