Another review… Another response kicked down the road

Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff

MEDIA RELEASE
Another review… Another response kicked down the road

29 January 2024

The Albanese Government has today released another report into the child care sector, kicking their formal response down the road and dragging their feet on action.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s 2023 review into the child care sector was formally released today, with the Albanese Government citing they would formally respond to the review’s findings and recommendations in six months’ time.

This is the fourth review into the sector commissioned by Labor, which has delivered hundreds of pages of findings and recommendations, and which the Government has yet to respond to.

It follows the review currently being undertaken by the Productivity Commission, and reviews into In Home Care and the Inclusion Support Program, where findings were quietly released at the end of last year with no response from Government.

Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell, said that many of these reviews had made similar findings, and Labor continued to drag its feet in response.

“We continue to see throughout these reviews that access to care, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas is patchy at best, or non-existent, with no plans from this Government to fix that,” Ms Bell said.

“After almost 18 months in Government not one single place has been created for children living in the regions. Families are struggling to access care and return to work, many of whom are regional farming families responsible for the food on our tables.

“It’s not good enough for this Government to commission review after review and then kick the can down the road on their response, especially when the same issues are being identified in these reports.

“We don’t need more reviews, and more bureaucracy, we need solutions – and we need those solutions to be implemented.

“Australian families deserve better. They deserve to know what the Government is going to do to fix issues affecting the sector – including lack of access, and workforce concerns.”

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