Labor has made an early election pitch to families, promising to build or expand 160 early learning centres in the regions and outer suburbs. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also committed to providing three-days a week of subsidised childcare for all scrapping the controversial activity test.
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00:00The election campaign hasn't begun, but it's never too early to hold a baby.
00:07The election pitch, though, is well underway.
00:11This is the single biggest investment by an Australian government ever in new childcare services.
00:19Labor pledging a billion dollar fund to build or expand 160 early education centres.
00:25That will bring the opportunity of early education to regions and suburbs that have been forgotten for too long.
00:32The fund will aim to build more centres on the sites of existing schools and include maternal and child health facilities.
00:39The promises didn't stop there.
00:41Under a re-elected Labor government, every family earning up to $530,000 will have access to the childcare subsidy for three days a week. Guaranteed.
00:52Currently, families earning more than $83,000 a week only start getting a childcare subsidy if they meet the activity test.
00:59That's four hours of work or study each week.
01:02The more days the parent works or studies, the more hours of subsidised childcare they receive.
01:08But Labor says it will wind back the activity test from 2026.
01:13What the activity test has done is locked out as many as 126,000 children from participating in early childhood education and care.
01:23Labor says under the plan, 33,000 families with an income of up to $100,000 will be better off, while it will benefit another 27,000 families who earn between $100,000 and $300,000 a year.
01:36We need more supply. All this is going to do is make it more difficult to access childcare.
01:42Childcare will be a key part of Anthony Albanese's plan to be re-elected next year, with more to come on the issue.
01:48He wants a universal childcare system and will be hoping the extra money in parents' pockets will make a difference in a cost-of-living election.