Federal election: Labor claims savings for parents show plans to boost early education and care are working

Labor has seized on new data which shows childcare subsidies have saved Australian families as much as $2768 as proof its policies are providing cost-of-living relief as it moves towards its goal of universal child care.

The Albanese Government said Education Department figures showed a family on an income of $120,000 a year paying the average quarterly fee for 30 hours child care a week had saved about $2768 since September, 2023.

It follows new job figures that reveal workforce vacancy rates in the early education and care sector have dropped in the past 12 months — with internet vacancy rates down 22 per cent since December 2023 — after the Government committed to fund a 15 per cent wage increase over two years for ECEC workers.

The nation’s biggest ECEC employer, Goodstart, said job applications had surged by 35 per cent on last year and expressions of interest were up 50 per cent.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said building Australia’s future was about more than bricks and mortar. “It’s about investing in people, especially our children and their future opportunities,” he said.

“We want to make sure we are putting in place the building blocks for a universal childcare system, while providing immediate cost of living relief for families and educators now.”

Education Minister Jason Clare said Labor had cut the cost of child care for more than one million families.

“If we win the next election, we will build more centres where they are needed in the outer suburbs and the regions and guarantee every child who needs it three days of subsidised early education so they start school ready to learn,” he said.