30 SepCommonwealth legislation extends access to early childhood education and care
New Commonwealth legislation introduced into the parliament last week will extend access to early childhood education and care to more children from 1 July 2023.
In a welcome development, and off the back of widespread advocacy, indigenous children will have access to a minimum 36 hours of subsidised early childhood education and care a fortnight.
The legislation also increases the rate of childcare subsidy, with families with a combined household income of $80,000 to receive a Child Care Subsidy up to 90 per cent for their first child in care. A family on the Australian median combined income of $120,000 with one child in care will save $1,780 in the first year of this plan. Over 1.26 million families will benefit from the legislation.
These measures are estimated to increase the hours worked by women with young children by up to 1.4 million hours per week in 2023-24. That is the equivalent of up to an extra 37,000 full-time workers.
The legislation is being referred to the Senate Education and Employment Committee.
ELAA welcomes the introduction of the legislation, but is concerned that workforce issues will impact access to quality education and care. ELAA will continue to advocate for accompanying measures to support workforce attraction and retention.
