Early Childhood Education & Care — Australian Democrats

The readiness gauge

Drag toward every child arriving at school ready — and see what it takes.

Figures from the Productivity Commission and Centre for Policy Development, as cited in our platform.

The plan at a glance

Scrap the activity test

A child’s early learning shouldn’t depend on their parents’ roster — re-include the 126,000 kids locked out.

Universal access

Quality early childhood education available to every family, with disadvantage prioritised, not penalised.

Pay educators properly

Professional pay for a professional workforce — ending the shortage that closes rooms and centres.

Simplify the subsidies

Untangle the funding maze so cost stops being the barrier that keeps parents out of work.

Two first days of school

The same five-year-old, two very different starts.

Behind at the bell — today

22% arrive developmentally vulnerable
The kids who’d benefit most attend the least
Parents in a catch-22: can’t afford the care that lets them work
Educators leaving for better-paid anything

Ready — our plan

Universal early learning, no activity test
Support targeted where disadvantage lives
Care affordable enough that work pays
A stable, professional, properly paid workforce

The full policy

Word for word — the platform as our members wrote it.

The Issues

Every child deserves the best possible start in life. Where you live and your parent’s cultural heritage should not be a barrier. According to the Productivity Commission: early childhood education and care is critical to the well-being of families. Unfortunately, the children who would benefit the most from access to early childhood education and care are attending less than average or not at all.

Research by the Centre for Policy Development shows Australian families pay some of the highest rates in the OECD for childcare, yet 22% of Australian children start school developmentally vulnerable, and 126,000 children are missing out on early learning due to activity test rules.

There are complex subsidy and funding arrangements, lack of accessibility for many families experiencing disadvantage, a shortage of educators and services, and high costs for parents and families.

Employees in the sector are among the lowest-paid of all professions with median weekly earnings less than two-thirds of median adult earnings. The average pay for childcare workers in Melbourne is $25.80/hour. Attracting and retaining workers in the sector has been a chronic problem. In NSW vacancies outstrip applications.

Cost of living pressures and stagnant wages are impacting the ability to afford care, leading to a ‘catch 22’ of needing to work to live, but not being able to afford the care that will enable parents to go out to work. Women are disproportionately impacted by this.

Our Plan

A funding model that delivers universal access to quality, culturally safe and inclusive early childhood education and care
For ECEC to be part of the education system, improving educators’ pay, status and conditions, bringing workers to the sector
Increase investment in services in unserved and under-served communities, particularly in poorer and rural and remote areas
Provide mentoring programs, coaching and counselling for early childhood educators
Overhaul administrative burdens

and:

Bring forward the Federal Government’s timeframe for the new proposed ECEC system and adopt all the recommendations of the Productivity Commission

The Evidence

The Productivity Commission made 56 recommendations in Sept 2024 to reform early childhood funding A path to universal early childhood education and care. These reforms would substantially increase affordability of and access to childcare however, it will be progressively rolled out over the next 12 years. The measures will increase childcare costs by 37% and eventually reach $17.4 billion/year.

It called for major reforms including ensuring all children have access to a minimum of three days of early childhood education and care per week at low or no cost and replacing current funding arrangements with direct, base level funding for all providers, supplemented by additional needs-based and service-based funding to cover specific costs.

Here is what the Federal Government is proposing:

All children to get 3 days/week of childcare by 2036(!)
The maximum rate of the childcare subsidy to be raised from 90% to 100% of the hourly rate cap for families on incomes up to $80,000, making childcare more affordable from 2026 for about 30% of all families with children aged 0 12 years.
Subsidies to be raised to 100% for families with multiple children under five earning under $140,000, up from the current 95%. (Subsidies were increased in 2023)
The activity test that requires parent to be working or studying at least 8 hours/fortnight is to be removed
Funding for remote and very remote areas to be equitable
Access to childcare subsidy for ‘wrap-around care’ in dedicated preschools is to be available (by 2025)

References

Growing Together: A future universal early childhood education and care system for Australia
Early childhood education and care
Early childhood development
Science Daily Child Development News
Australian Early Development Census
A New Perspective on Early Childhood Development
A major new childcare report glosses over the issues educators face at work and why they leave
Giving early childhood educators an extra 15% is good policy, and even better politics
Free childcare: How we are tackling the cost of childcare

Make it happen.

Policies like this only become law when enough people push. Push with us.

Join the Democrats →All Education platforms

The best start, for every child.