Parents have saved more than $2700 through childcare subsidies, new figures show

Anthony Albanese reiterated his goal for universal childcare, with new figures revealing the amount saved by parents.

Australian parents have saved more than $2700 since new childcare subsidies came into effect just over a year ago, with Anthony Albanese saying Labor’s raft of childcare policies were creating the “building blocks for a universal childcare system”.

Households with joint incomes of up $533,280 have been eligible for a discount, with families on a combined income of up to $83,280 receiving maximum subsidy rates of 90 per cent.

The subsidy decreases by 1 per cent for every $5000 worth of income above $83,280.

New figures from the Department of Education, to be released on Tuesday, show that since September 2023, a household with a joint income of $120,000 who pays the average quarterly fee for 30 hours childcare per week (about $411) has saved about $2768.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated his goal for universal childcare. Picture: Dan Peled/ NewsWire

Childcare will be one of Anthony Albanese’s cornerstone policies in his bid for a second term of government.

To date the government has promised a guarantee of three days of subsidised childcare for families with a combined income of less than $530,000, plus a $1bn fund to build or expand more than 160 centres, with centres located next to schools to be prioritised.

The Prime Minister said Labor’s policies were creating the “building blocks for a universal childcare system” while giving families “immediate cost of living relief”.

He said investment in early childhood education was another way Labor was “building Australia’s future,” riffing on Labor’s election tagline.

“It’s about investing in people, especially our children and their future opportunities,” he said.

The Coalition’s spokeswoman for early childhood education Angie Bell has criticised the rollout of the government’s pay increase to early childhood education and care workers, saying only 15 per cent of eligible workers have received the 10 per cent increase.

Employees will then get another 5 per cent pay from December this year, taking the total to 15 per cent.

Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly called on eligible centres to apply for government backed wage increase for workers. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

While about 51 per cent of eligible services have applied for the funding to boost wages, which require centres to limit fee increases to parents and guardians, Ms Bell said the government had broken their promise to give workers a boost by the end of 2024.

“The reality … is that 85 per cent of those workers have missed out on that pay rise,” she said.

“So it’s only 15 per cent of the sector who have received that promise, when Jason Clare stood up and said late last year that it’s payday for 200,000 workers, and frankly, they’re still waiting for that promise to materialise.”

Recent figures from Jobs and Skills Australia also found online job ads for childcare workers had decreased by 2.5 per cent (about 5400) in December 2024, correlating with the start of Labor’s wage policy.

The sector’s largest employer Goodstart also reported completed job applications have increased 35 per cent year-on-year, with expressions of interest up 50 to 60 per cent.

Education Minister Jason Clare said childcare costs have been cut for more than a million families, and said the government was focused on “fixing the pay of some of the most important workers in this country”.

“This shows our 15 per cent pay rise for early educators is working. Applications are up and job vacancies are down,” he said.

Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly urged all eligible centres to sign up to the “important initiative, so their hardworking staff get the full benefit of this wage increase”.