Albanese builds on “Early Years Strategy,” reiterates fee regulation and profit transparency commitments

Anthony Albanese MP, the leader of the Opposition, has built on Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Amanda Rishworth’s recent speech in which she outlined the key tenets of Labor’s new “whole of government” Early Years Strategy as well as reiterate Labor’s key pre-election promises, including fee regulation and profit transparency measures.

“An Albanese Labor Government, if elected, will develop and implement a whole government Early Years Strategy,” Mr Albanese said in a media statement.

“Currently, the programs and funding that impact early childhood development are scattered throughout departments – including Education, Social Services, Health, and the National Indigenous Australians Agency.”

“Without a coordinated approach across government, there is a lack of ultimate responsibility and accountability for the wellbeing, education and development of Australia’s children.”

“Labor’s Early Years Strategy will create a new integrated, holistic, whole of government approach to the early years.”

Details of the new strategy were revealed by Ms Rishworth in a speech at progressive think tank the McKell Institute in which she outlined five major objectives of the new policy including better targeting of funding as well as a move towards deeper integration and cooperation between Government departments involved in ECEC service delivery and support. 

Previous policy positions reiterated – affordability, price regulation, transparency remain

Mr Albanese also took the opportunity to reiterate his party’s other key ECEC policy measures, all of which were first flagged or referred to in 2020 as part of his Budget Reply address and include both family focused affordability initiatives and sector focused price regulation and financial transparency initiatives. 

These key positions include: 

• Delivering the Cheaper Child Care for Working Families plan, which will make child care cheaper for 97 per cent of families in the system;

• Tasking the Productivity Commission to review the early learning sector, with the aim to implement a universal 90 per cent Child Care Subsidy for all families;

• Tasking the ACCC with designing a price regulation mechanism to drive down child care costs for good; and

• Improving transparency in the child care sector, by forcing large providers to publicly report revenue and profit, provide real time fee data and quality ratings to families, and ban non-educational enrolment inducements.

Mr Albanese’s statement comes ahead of a federal election that is expected to see early ECEC be a central campaign focus for the major political parties.

To read Mr Albanese’s statement please click here and to read Ms Rishworth’s speech please click here.