An Albanese Labor Government, if elected, will develop and implement a whole of government Early Years Strategy.
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.
This issue has been exacerbated under the Morrison Government, with a Prime Minister and Minister who take little interest in the early childhood education space.
Labor's Early Years Strategy will create a new integrated, holistic, whole of government approach to the early years.
It will examine the range of programs and funding delivered across the Commonwealth Government that directly impact on early childhood development.
The strategy will identify ways to reduce program and funding silos across departments, better integrate and coordinate functions and activities across government, and target outcomes to deliver better outcomes for young Australians and their families.
It will develop a programme of action which will set out the policies, initiatives and plans to help achieve the vision and outcomes.
The development of the strategy will be led by a steering committee, with senior representatives from the relevant line departments, as well as Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Other governments have adopted similar whole of government strategies, including in New Zealand, and almost all State and Territories.
This commitment builds on Labor's existing commitments to:-
- Introduce our Cheaper Child Care for Working Families plan, which will make child care cheaper for 97 per cent of families in the system;
- Task 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;
- Task the ACCC with designing a price regulation mechanism to drive down child care costs for good; and
- Improve 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.
An Albanese Labor Government is committed to delivering a better future for Australian families and children.
