Slug big gas and billionaires to fund free childcare, says Adam Bandt

Greens leader Adam Bandt will push the Albanese government to fast-track free childcare and offer Medicare-funded dental in the October budget.

Greens leader Adam Bandt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Greens leader Adam Bandt will push the Albanese government to fast-track free childcare and offer Medicare-funded dental in the October budget, claiming the $18.2bn cost a year can be recouped by slugging gas companies and billionaires.

In a National Press Club speech on Wednesday, Mr Bandt will launch an attack on LNG exporters and accuse Labor of shedding its progressive identity.

“The Greens are offering to deal with the pressing inflation and wage crisis by passing fully funded free childcare and dental into Medicare through the Senate, paid for with a tax on billionaires and big gas corporations making super-profits,” Mr Bandt will say.

“The numbers are there in the parliament. The only thing standing in the way is Labor’s willingness to act.”

As Jim Chalmers considers cost-of-living relief measures ahead of the October 25 budget, Mr Bandt will say free childcare and dental care will “deliver real relief to everyday people battling with high inflation and low wages and incomes”.

“Better than a short-lived cut to fuel excise that can be wiped out by a profiteering petrol corporation, these measures would mean people were better off not just right now but next month and next year, year after year,” he will say.

After the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week warned of a 56 petajoules shortfall in gas next year, Mr Bandt will target LNG exporters whom he describes as “poster child tax avoiders” and promote a “small annual tax on the wealth of billionaires”.

“They’re not just profiteering off a Russian dictator’s invasion of Ukraine, they’re driving up energy costs in Australia as well, all while giving next to nothing to the public purse,” he will say.

“ In one year, 27 big gas corporations brought in $77bn of revenue but paid no tax; 96 per cent of the gas industry is overseas-owned, so billions in profits are going offshore.”