Changes to negative gearing to fund Labor’s preschool plan

Bill Shorten says changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax will fund his $10bn package to boost preschool access.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP

As the Morrison government scrambles to guarantee that its universal access program for four-year-old children will continue beyond the end of next year, Bill Shorten has pledged to spend almost $10 billion over a decade on boosting preschool access for three and four-year-olds.

From 2021, three-year-olds will get access to 600 hours of subsidised preschool, at a cost of $1.75bn over the forward estimates.

The scheme, which will cost $9.8bn over ten years, would see the existing 15 hours a week of subsidised preschool for four-year-olds extended to three-year-olds under a Shorten government.

Mr Shorten Labor would pay for the promise with changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax.

The Opposition Leader pointed to Australia’s poor performance in international education rankings.

“I don’t know if Australian families realise, but in other countries around the world they’re already doing what we’re talking about,” Mr Shorten said as he unveiled the policy during a visit to his old kindergarten in Clayton, in Melbourne’s east.

“The reality is that only 57 per cent of our three-year-olds are in any form of long day care or preschool.

“When it’s actual, particular preschool, it’s only 15 per cent, but the OECD average for three-year-olds is 78 per cent.

“The reality is that France has been doing this for 30 years, New Zealand adopted this in 2007, the UK has already adopted this too, Norway, Ireland.

“Australian parents are getting short-changed by the lack of vision in early childhood education from the Liberals in Canberra.”

Mr Shorten accused the government of not only failing to fund three-year-old kindergarten, but failing to fund four-year-old kindergarten beyond then end of 2019.

“You’ve got Labor’s plan, the vision for the next generation: we’re not only going to fund four-year-old preschool because of our economic reforms, we’re going to fund three-year-old preschool,” he said.

“Morrison and his team won’t even commit to more than one year’s funding for four-year-olds. It’s not good enough.

“I don’t expect the Liberals to do everything that we’re going to do in preschool because that’s just not their priority, but they should at least guarantee the future of four-year-old preschool funding full stop.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, centre, and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews during a visit to a preschool in Melbourne. Picture: AAP

Mr Shorten also hinted at further announcements on how Labor plans to recruit and train the staff required to roll out the extra places for three-year-olds.

“Part of what’s important about our early childhood education system, is the actual workforce themselves, so we will have more to say about getting a better deal for the early childhood educators,” he said.

“They’re the ones doing the work. They’re the ones to whom families entrust their first out-of-family contact with their little children.

“They’re qualified, they’re doing a great job, and we’ll have more to say about making sure that the early childhood educators see an improvement in their conditions, which I think’s part of us taking early childhood education seriously as a national priority.”

Making the announcement alongside Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Mr Shorten said he was hopeful that the states would support federal Labor’s plan.

“What state premier would want to stand in the way of making sure that three and four-year-olds get universal access” Mr Shorten said.

“What I see (as) the role of the federal government, is not to be at war with the states but to be an enabler.”

Andrews pledges universal three-year-old kindergarten

Mr Andrews pledged universal three-year-old kindergarten in Victoria if his government is re-elected on November 24.

“We know that 90 per cent of brain development in our kids occurs before the age of five, and we know that families are doing it tough as well, so many families, 50,000, 60,000 kids are locked out of three-year-old kinder currently across our state because of the prohibitive costs,” the Victorian Premier said.

“That’s if you could find a three-year-old kinder close to where you live.

“We’re going to change all that. We are going to roll out progressively so that by 2022 every single three-year-old across Victoria will have access to at least five hours of three-year-old kinder each week.

“Some will have more because they’re already offered services, and then through the balance of the decade we will roll it out so that every single three-year-old, all 80,000 of them, will have access to 15 hours of three-year-old kinder.

“It’ll be offered on the same basis that four-year-old kinder is offered, where there’s up to a 65 per cent subsidy, saving hardworking families around $3500 each and every year.

“Put simply, this is about giving every child every chance at the best start in life, and providing a really big help to household budgets.”

Low income families already receive government-funded three-year-old kindergarten places in Victoria.

‘Labor spending means higher taxes’: Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed Labor had not explained how it would fund the measure.

“They actually don’t seem to have funded anything for three-year-olds at all,” Mr Morrison said.

“They can’t decide whether the funding is over two years or four years.

“They haven’t explained what the support of the states and territories (is) going to be for this, because my understanding is that that sort of funding would have to be matched by the states and territories, so what we have is just another announcement from the Labor Party wanting to spend your money with higher taxes, with detail that’s all over the place, and that’s why at the end of the day Labor will make lots and lots of promises between now and the next election. “Every time you hear Bill Shorten saying he wants to spend more money, know that you’re going to pay for it with higher taxes.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: AAP

Mr Morrison said the government was committed to early childhood education.

“When I was social services minister, I was very involved in increasing our investment into early childhood education and our early childhood education support through the childcare program is biggest change to childcare that we’ve seen since subsidies were first introduced into that system, and that’s seeing more children staying longer and ensuring that the early childhood education component of what they’re receiving in child care is more certain,” he said.

“They no longer hit the barrier, you know, three quarters into the year where they no longer get the subsidies. We’ve got rid of that. The subsidies run all year, so we’ve invested billions more in childcare which has also meant more into early childhood education.

“We have supported every single year until the end of 2019, the universal access funding (for four-year-old kindergarten), done in partnership with the states.

“That’s currently going to the end of 2019, and we’re currently working with the states and territories as to how we might take that program forward.

“But what we want to see, though, from the states is with the money that we’ve already invested, you know, $440 million a year, we want to see the take-up rates and the participation rates in early childhood education, particularly for preschools increase.

“It is one thing to invest money, but taxpayers expect results for it and when we go into partnerships with the states and territories, we expect them to deliver results and we want to see improved results in that area from the investments we’ve already been making and we’ll be considering further investments in that area in the future.”