ALP challenges Liberal Government to cancel Universal Access funding cuts

Australian Labor Party Leader Bill Shorten has challenged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cancel the Liberal Government’s planned preschool funding cuts and “make sure four year olds get the funding they deserve”.

Mr Shorten made the challenge at a doorstop interview at Goodstart Early Learning’s Albany Creek childcare centre yesterday, before announcing the ALP’s plan to invest $1.75 billion into a two-year National Preschool and Kindy Program to guarantee approximately 700,000 Australian children access to subsidised preschool each year.

The Liberal Government plans to discontinue the $440 million Universal Access funding for preschools from 2020.

“I just do not understand why Prime Minister Scott Morrison is essentially cutting funding for four year olds’ educational preschool from 2020,” said Mr Shorten.

“The fact of the matter is, investing in our little ones is the best use of taxpayer money. ”

“We should be a nation who hands on a better deal to the next generation, not a worse deal,” he said.

In a statement on his website, Mr Shorten said “Unless this cut is reversed, every child now under the age of two will miss out on preschool funding in the year before school. This would be a disaster for Australian children and for our economy.

“Scott Morrison’s cuts amount to the equivalent of $1,200 per child every year – a cut that will leave parents out of pocket or force states and community kindies to cut back hours.”

A release from Bill Shorten detailed the Liberal Government’s funding cuts to preschool by state.