Childcare deserts and year-long waitlists to be a thing of the past under Dean Winter

Cheaper childcare and building a daycare centre at every new school were part of promises made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Tasmania today, alongside Labor leader Dean Winter, and one corner of the state will be the first to benefit.

The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was in Launceston today with the Leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party, Dean Winter and Member for Bass Jess Teesdale. Picture: Patrick Gee/NewsWire,

Cheaper childcare and building a childcare centre at every new school were part of promises made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor leader Dean Winter.

Mr Winter said the West Coast would be the first place to benefit from Federal Labor’s Cheaper Child Care initiatives if he is elected.

“We will start on the West Coast, where there is no childcare at all,” Mr Winter said at Discovery Early Learning Centre in Launceston on Wednesday.

Mr Winter said during conversations across the state families said they were under significant cost of living stress, and were to work the required hours due to a lack of childcare options.

“This is about preparing Tasmanian young people for the best start in life,” Mr Winter said.

Mr Winter’s plan was two-fold, with a promise to build a childcare centre at every new school and any major redevelopments.

They visited an early learning centre where they announced an election commitment to include daycare in the development of every new school in the state. Picture: Patrick Gee/NewsWire

State Labor would also step in to run childcare where it is not financially viable in the market.

“There are so many places in Tasmania where you can’t get access to childcare at all.

He said in cities, like in Launceston at the Discovery Early Learning Centre, families face waitlists of more than three years.

“Our policy will step in where we need to — we will step in and make sure there’s childcare for every regional community.

Liberal member for Rosevears Jo Palmer said the policy was a “shopping list” of things the Liberal government was already doing.

She said she submitted “12 government school sites for the Commonwealth’s consideration to provide capital funding to assist in establishing childcare centres”.

“As a result, we secured funding for the development of sites through the Building Early Education Fund at Huonville and Westbury Primary Schools,” Ms Palmer said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said expanding access to childcare was about more than child minding

“It’s about giving young Australians the best start in life,” he said, adding that the federal government committed $1 billion towards cheaper childcare initiatives.

“That’s about making sure that people, particularly in the suburbs and regional areas, get access to early learning and to childcare.

“We want to make sure that every child, no matter where they grow up, no matter what they’re economic circumstances are, has the best opportunity in life.

“That is part of Labor’s core objective, making sure that opportunity is spread, that the doors of opportunity are widened and then pushed further,” Mr Albanese said in Launceston on Wednesday.