Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Stewart. Well, I'm pleased to tell you that our changes will commence on 1 July, which of course is just a few weeks from now. As I said, they will increase the maximum rate of the childcare subsidy to 90 per cent for families earning $80,000 a year or less. As I also said, we've also extended the childcare subsidy to families earning up to $530,000, and we're doing this because this is an economic measure, not a welfare measure. Reducing the cost of early learning, which went up by over 40 per cent under the previous coalition government, will help lift participation, particularly by women.

No government has done more to put women at the centre of its economic strategy than the Albanese government, and cheaper child care is a key part of that strategy. Women are the vast majority of primary carers of young children. When the cost of early childhood education and care is too high, it's often their careers that are put on hold. Making early childhood education and care more affordable for families will enable thousands of skilled workers to return to the workforce.