Find out how Labor’s $1 billion childcare promise will impact you

The ALP has promised parents and families across the country a move towards a ‘universal child care system’ if elected. Find out how the pledge will affect Territorians.

The ALP’s big promise is a key election pledge. Picture: Getty Images,

Territory families may soon have better access to childcare, with the federal government promising the next steps towards “universal childcare” by building 160 centres and delivering 12,000 additional places nationwide.

The $1bn Building Early Education Fund will roll out in July 2025 and also include a three day guarantee of subsidised care for all children and a 15 per cent increase to early educators – if Labor is re-elected.

Centres like Territory Kids Millner, which opens in January 2025, would benefit from the scheme.

Territory Kids Millner. Picture: Facebook

“The wage increase is a great incentive to encourage newcomers to the sector,” director of Territory Kids Early Learning Centre Ange Sikyr said.

“It will also help to retain the current early educators we do have.

“There’s long been a shortage of early educators here in the NT.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Jason Clare assured this masthead some of the early childhood education centres (ECEC) would be built in the Northern Territory.

“The funding will focus on not-for-profit ECEC providers and state and local governments to establish new services and increase the capacity of existing ECEC services,” the spokesperson said.

Recent data from the Mitchell Institute Victoria University classified 24 per cent of the NT as a ‘childcare desert’; an area where there is more than three children per childcare place.

The best access to childcare in the Territory was in very remote Petermann, located in the Simpson Desert.

The worst access was in Daly, with 0.071 places per child.

Some suburban spots were close to being classified as a childcare desert, including Larrakeyah, Stuart Park and Fannie Bay, as well as rural areas such as Humpty Doo, Howard Springs and Virginia.

Member for Solomon Luke Gosling said the funding promise would target spots such as this.

“The Building Early Education Fund will build more centres and prioritise areas where the market is not working or where there is a lack of services and gaps,” Mr Gosling said.

“This means a significant amount of the $1 billion will go to regional locations such as the Territory.”

But some critics, including Chief executive of the Moriarty Foundation Jo Shulman, accused the program of only benefiting “mainstream childcare options”.

“Early childhood programs that are holistic, community-led and respond flexibly to needs on the ground are the ones that succeed in remote communities,” she said.

Ms Shulman pointed to Indi Kindi — an Aboriginal led early childcare program run by her foundation — as an example of a successful program.

Indi Kindi, provides childcare in a remote Aboriginal community in Borroloola, a 13 hour drive from Darwin. Picture: supplied

Ms Shulman said Labor’s funding announcement “failed to take into consideration programs” such as this.

This in contrast to Maddy Butler from Access for Every Child Coalition, who praised the announcement.

“The investment in building services in regional, rural and remote communities where parents struggle to find early learning places for their children is huge,” Ms Butler said.

A spokesperson for Mr Clare said more information, including on priority locations, would be available next year.

Originally published as Find out how Labor’s $1 billion childcare promise will impact you