Child Care

The Prime Minister promised Australia cheaper child care. He promised a pay rise for 200,000 educators by the end of the year. But just like all of his other promises, like no changes to superannuation, no changes to the stage 3 tax cuts and—who can forget?—cheaper power bills, he has failed to deliver for Australians. Under Labor, the cost of child care has risen by 22.3 per cent, and the latest inflation data shows that, since Labor’s changes to the child-care subsidy, out-of-pocket fees have skyrocketed by 12.7 per cent. Meanwhile, they’ve completely bungled the worker retention payment, with just 15 per cent of educators to receive the pay rise. Labor is failing educators and failing Australians.

Labor is spending $15 billion on early childhood education, but guess what? They haven’t delivered a single new place for families with little to no access, and child care is more expensive. Now their plan is to add more demand into a system that is struggling, a system that is at capacity, because Labor have failed to get the policy settings right. This is a government with no meaningful policies to address the issues of access, affordability and quality in the sector, only bandaid solutions. We have a government chasing headlines and not delivering substance. Australian families deserve to know: why do they always pay more under Labor?