Labor’s BEEF completely undercooked
28 Feb | '2025
Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff
Darren Chester MP
Shadow Minister for Regional Education
Federal Member for Gippsland
MEDIA RELEASE
Labor’s BEEF completely undercooked
28 February 2025
The Albanese Labor Government is on track to repeat history with another early childhood education infrastructure program set to fail.
It’s clear Labor’s only policy addressing supply of early learning, the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund (BEEF) is completely lacking detail and ambition.
Yesterday’s Senate Estimates did nothing to quell the Coalition’s concerns this will be a repeat of a failed Rudd-era policy which saw just 38 child care centres delivered out of a promised 260.
It has become very obvious this is another policy on the run in a desperate attempt to cover up Labor’s neglect of regional, rural and remote communities.
The government announced in December that the BEEF would roll out from July 2025. The department, however, revealed the date has not actually been decided.
When asked how the funding will be rolled out, the response was “the details are still being finalised.”
When asked where the centres will be built, they said “that is part of the methodology work that we are doing.”
Asked why the fund is set at $1 billion, the Assistant Minister for Education could not answer.
Labor has been promising to act on the lack of early education services in unserved and underserved communities as soon as possible after the next election. Clearly, this is just a sugar hit election promise.
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell said Labor can’t be trusted to build anything.
“Over the last three years, Labor has shown time and time again, it can’t be trusted to deliver on its promises.
“This is a government that has failed to build a single home, despite its multi-billion dollar housing schemes. How can you trust them to build quality early childhood education centres?
“Labor doesn’t care about early childhood education. Labor only cares about splashing cash in a desperate attempt to distract us from their failed policies.
“The BEEF is completely undercooked, but at least a bad steak still has some meat to it, unlike this policy.”
Shadow Minister for Regional Education, Darren Chester said “All the Labor Party have done over the last three years is focus on inner city markets. It has taken an election campaign for them to finally wake up to the issue of access in Regional Australia.
“To be told in Estimates that this is just a shiny announcement without a plan adds further insult to regional families.
“Labor is out of touch with the needs of regional families and only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver the flexibility, accessibility and affordability that our families need”.
[ENDS]