Senate Inquiry confirms Labor’s Child Care policy is half baked

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

MEDIA RELEASE
SENATE INQUIRY CONFIRMS LABOR’S CHILD CARE POLICY IS HALF BAKED

02 November 2022

Treasury have today confirmed that the Albanese Government’s ‘Cheaper Child Care’ policy is based on a lack of modelling and incorrect assumptions.

In a Senate Inquiry into the policy, Treasury confirmed the only modelling they’ve done is the impact the policy will have on mothers with children aged 0-5 years.

The Albanese Government has argued time and time again that this policy will increase access to early learning for families, increase workforce participation, and reduce out of pockets costs – but evidence presented today from Treasury paints a different picture.

When questioned about the modelling underpinning the policy, Treasury admitted they had done no GDP modelling, no modelling on supply and demand, no modelling on wage costs or increases, no modelling on the provision of early childhood educators, and no modelling on the impact of rising fees.

The Government’s policy also assumes by 1 July 2023, there will be enough places in the sector to meet the increased demand and that fees will remain at their current level.

With 7,200 current staff vacancies in the sector and 9,000 additional educators predicted by July 2023 – it’s hard to understand how no real assumption regarding access and workers has been done.

Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell, said evidence from today’s inquiry shows the Albanese Government is just making it up as it goes along.

“This just shows that the Albanese Government has no idea what it is doing when it comes to delivering for Australian families,” Ms Bell said.

“This policy isn’t even half baked, it’s so undercooked.

“The Coalition supports this Bill, but today’s revelations from Treasury confirm our concerns on how this policy will be able to deliver.”
The Coalition has always supported increased access to care – almost doubling our investment to $11 billion in 2022-23 and locking ongoing funding for preschools and kindergartens.

Women’s workforce participation reached record highs at 62.3% (May 2023) under the Coalition, compared to 58.7% when Labor left office.

The Albanese Government has no plans to address current workforce concerns or the decreasing levels of access.

Labor said it had a plan. Its Budget shows there is no plan.

With early education costs set to increase under this Government, Australian families deserve to know if they will really be better off under Labor.

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