Labor to attempt to legislate three days of subsidised childcare promise in last sitting fortnight

Originally committed as an election promise, Labor will attempt to legislate its bid to give most Australian families three days of subsidised childcare.

Labor will bring forward its election promise to give most Australian households access to three days of subsidised childcare, and attempt to pass the legislation in the last sitting fortnight of parliament.

While it’s unlikely the Bill will be passed due to opposition from the Coalition, the Albanese government will introduce the three-day guarantee once parliament resumes sitting from Tuesday.

The legislation will scrap the existing activity test, which measures the amount of support given with a household’s working or volunteer hours, and instead measure the subsidy amount by a household’s combined income.

All households will less than a total income of $530,000 will be able to access some level of subsidised care, with Labor also pledging a $1bn fund to building or expanding more than 160 childcare centres across Australia if it is re-elected.

Labor will attempt to bring forward its election promise to guarantee most Australian families three days of subsidised childcare. Picture: NewsWire/ John Appleyard

Education Minister Jason Clare said the government had a “responsibility” to allow all children to access schooling before they officially start primary school.

“This is fundamentally about making sure every child gets a great start in life and start school ready to learn,” he said.

“At the moment the children who need early education the most can’t access it. They are missing out. As a result they start school behind and often never catch up. This will help fix that.

“We believe every child has the right to go to early education, to help make sure they don’t start school behind – and our Labor government is going to make this possible.”

Early Childhood Education Minister Anny Aly said the policy will lay the foundation for a universal early childhood education system.

“The 3 Day Guarantee is a key part of ensuring that more Australian families can access the transformational benefits of early education and care,” she said.

“Accessible and affordable early learning is critical for supporting more people, especially women, to have a choice when it comes to undertaking study, re-entering the workforce or increasing their hours of work.”

Education Minister Jason Clare said access to early childhood education ensured kids were better prepared before they start primary school. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Previously, the Coalition’s early childhood education spokeswoman Angie Bell said the policy would only increase demand in an already stressed sector.

“At a time when working families are already struggling under Labor’s cost-of-living crisis, this policy will increase demand in a sector that is already at capacity, including in many parts of Australia where there are little or no child care facilities,” Ms Bell said in December.

“The activity test simply requires parents to be working, training or studying in order to access government support for childcare. Various activity test exemptions are already in place, including for vulnerable children.”

Over the next fortnight Labor will also attempt to progress its bid to legislate extensions on its free TAFE courses, pass legislation which disallows the privatisation of the NBN, and introduce its Critical Minerals Product Tax Credit laws.

However Labor has shafted its Nature Positive reforms which aimed to create a federal environmental protection agency to enforce laws, after it was blasted by WA Premier Roger Cook for its potential impact on the state’s mining and resources sector.

Previously the Greens had lobbied the government for additional measures including a climate trigger which would veto high-emissions or projects which risked biodiversity.

Greens’ environmental spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young lashed Labor for bowing down to the demands of the resources sector.

“The Prime Minister has not got what it takes to save Australia’s native forests, or to protect our koala,” she said.

“The Greens will now take ending native forest logging to the election. We are urging people to vote for nature at the ballot box.”

Originally published as Labor to attempt to legislate three days of subsidised childcare promise in last sitting fortnight