Anthony Albanese is hoping to win over voters with a huge pre-election promise to make childcare accessible to every Australian family.
If re-elected, subsidized childcare will no longer depend on the number of hours parents work, guaranteeing all families three days of discounted early childhood education.
The proposed Three Day Guarantee, to be announced by the Prime Minister in Brisbane on Wednesday, will ensure 70,000 families who are currently ineligible for subsidies due to the so-called ‘activity test’ can access childcare.
Currently, a child can only get a taxpayer-funded place three days a week if their parent or guardian has worked, studied or volunteered 8 to 16 hours a fortnight.
It is hoped the pre-election sweetener will win back votes for Mr Albanese, whose popularity has plummeted after a series of blunders.
Last year he faced a wave of criticism after going ahead with the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
In October he sparked outrage by spending $4.3 million on a clifftop mansion on NSW’s central coast, in the midst of a housing and cost-of-living crisis.
He was recently condemned for taking two days to call last week’s Melbourne synagogue firebombing a terror attack.
The Prime Minister will say in his speech that the changes will ‘ensure that every family can afford three days of high-quality pre-school education’. Herald Sun reported.
Prime Minister Albanese will promise subsidized childcare to another 70,000 Australian families (pictured of the Prime Minister at a Brisbane childcare center in July)
Labor will promise to scrap the ‘activity test’, meaning families earning up to $530,000 will be guaranteed three days of discounted childcare (pictured a child in a nursery)
“Affordable for every family, funded for every child, building a better education system every step of the way,” Mr Albanese will say.
Labor’s pledge guarantees three days of subsidized childcare for every family earning up to $530,000 a year.
Parents who work, study or volunteer 48 hours or more per fortnight will have access to up to five days of discounted childcare.
It comes after the Productivity Commission earlier this year recommended scrapping the fortnightly quota, saying it was keeping families from working and preventing thousands of children from attending early childhood education.
Mr Albanese will confirm Labour’s plan to ‘build a universal childcare system’, but will clarify that this is not ‘mandatory or mandatory’.
“The choice will be up to the parents,” he will say.
“But… we want to make sure your decision isn’t determined by where you live or what you do for a living.”
The Prime Minister will add that childcare is ‘driven by only one thing’, namely what a parent wants for their child.
The Albanian government wants every Australian child to have access to ‘high-quality early education’ (stock photo of a childcare center)
Labor’s upcoming budget is expected to unveil funding for the grants, which will amount to $3.1 billion over the next four years.
Many organizations supported the Productivity Commission’s recommendation, calling the activity test “unfair.”
The 2023 Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce report also called for the abolition of the activity test. Research shows that up to 81,680 women would enter the workplace and increase their hours, increasing GDP by $4.5 billion per year.