Labor delivers nothing but lies and higher child care costs

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

MEDIA RELEASE
Labor delivers nothing but lies and higher child care costs

27 June 2024

Almost one year since the Albanese Government’s ‘Cheaper Child care’ policy came into play, and Australian families are still struggling to pay for early learning.

Despite promising cheaper child care, out of pocket costs are higher now than when Labor came into Government, increasing by 7.2 per cent in the last six months.

Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell, said it was an insult to parents for Labor to continue to claim they’re better off under them, when so many are struggling through this cost-of-living crisis.

“For the Education Ministers to say they are delivering real cost of living relief to households is a complete farce. Thousands of families watched their subsidy increase eaten up by higher fees last July, and have now been whacked with another fee increase from next month,” Ms Bell said.

“I’ve seen reports of centres increasing fees by up to $30 a day – something that many families cannot afford to pay on top of their rising electricity, gas, petrol, grocery and mortgage bills.”

On top of the rising cost of early learning, there are still many families living in regional, rural and remote Australia who have no access for their children at all. What good is cheaper child care, if you can’t access it?

“I’ve spent hours speaking with families across the country, who are upset and angry this Labor Government has left them and their children behind,” Ms Bell said.

“Labor continues to trumpet their cheaper child care policy in the face of regional families, who have no early learning services in their community, or are languishing on waitlists because the local centre is full.

“We want to see more support delivered to those families, to ensure equal access of education and care for all families regardless of their postcode.

“The Coalition will continue to advocate for flexibility and choice for all families accessing education and care services.”

The last time Labor was in Government, fees skyrocketed by 53 per cent in just six years.

With out-of-pocket costs rising again, Australian families deserve to know why they always pay more under Labor.

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