A leading expert and Senator have both questioned why the government will fund childcare for wealthy families even if they’re not working.
Executive Director of the think tank Australian Institute for Progress, Graham Young, says a new plan to indiscriminately give families a guaranteed three days of subsidised childcare each week appears to be little more than an attempt by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to win the next election.
Under the new plan, the current Activity Test would be eliminated, meaning families would not have to prove they were working, studying or in training to access financial support.
It would be sealed under a re-elected Labor government, according to a joint statement by the prime minister, Education Minister Jason Clare, and Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly.
The $1 billion (US$638 million) Building Early Education Fund would roll out from July 2025, if Labor is re-elected in May.
More childcare centres would be built or expanded in areas of need, including outer suburbs and regional Australia, with childcare subsidies guaranteed for three days a week for households earning up to $530,000 annually.
The subsidy is expected to come at a cost of $427 million.
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As part of this package, the government will also develop an Early Education Service Delivery Price to better understand the cost of delivering services around the country and underpin future reform.
But Young said the new policy failed to make sense economically or educationally.
“The only way it makes sense is if you are trying to win back affluent middle-class seats that have swung Green, like Griffith in Brisbane, where the policy is being launched,” he told The Epoch Times.
“Paying households earning … more than six times the median household income, to send their kids to childcare, irrespective of whether the parents are working or not, is obscene, and a misuse of funds sorely needed in other parts of the economy.
“Welfare should be distributed on a needs basis,” he said.
“At the same time, research shows that childcare serves no educational purpose, and the best carer for a young child is one of its parents.
“Substituting the state for a parent is neither in the interest of the child, nor the parents.”
Government’s ‘Universal’ Plan
The government says the move would ensure that no child went to school unprepared.
Clare said the move would coincide with a 15 percent payrise for childcare workers and cheaper childcare for more than one million Australian families.
“This is a key part of our plans to build a universal early education system,” he said in a statement.
Albanese said the move could be potentially life-changing for children.
“Every child should have the right to quality, affordable early education,” he said.
“That’s why we want to build a universal childcare system that is simple, affordable and accessible, for every family.
“We think children should have guaranteed access to at least three days of high-quality early education and care—because early education is about changing lives.”
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has voiced opposition to the reforms.
“This seems to be just a subsidy for rich families because you can already obviously get childcare funding if you work,” he told the Today show.
“This will be for those who don’t have to work.”
