The Greens have welcomed the government finally moving to "consult" on a national early childhood education and care commission, but say families will be let down yet again if next week's budget fails to deliver meaningful investment to establish it.
Australian Greens spokesperson for early childhood education and care, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, announced a plan for an early childhood commission more than a year ago ahead of the 2025 federal election, backed by experts across the sector. The proposal was again recommended by the Greens in their dissenting report to the Senate inquiry into the quality and safety of ECEC.
Labor has now announced it will begin "consultation" on a commission, but has not committed funding in next week's budget to establish it. Reporting also suggests the Treasurer has poured cold water on progress toward universal childcare.
As stated by Senator Steph Hodgins-May:
"Once again, Labor is all talk and no action. The Prime Minister cannot keep calling early learning his legacy while offering crumbs when families are crying out for real reform.
"Consultation is fine, but families and educators already know what's needed. The Greens have put forward a serious plan for an independent national regulator with teeth to crack down on unsafe centres, lift standards, and drive the transition to universal early education.
"Families are struggling right now with skyrocketing childcare fees, concerns about quality, and an increasingly privatised system that treats children like profit margins, and this is if they can even find a place in a centre at all.
"I've spent more than a year pushing the Minister to act on a national commission, only to hear the same excuses over and over: not now, maybe later.
"Now we've got another vague, non-committal announcement that kicks the can further down the road.
"When is the right time? Parents are at breaking point. They cannot wait any longer for a properly funded, affordable, high-quality universal early learning system that works just like primary and secondary school.
"If Labor was willing to stand up to the gas cartel and introduce a minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports, we'd have the revenue not just to consult on reform, but to actually build the universal early learning system families deserve.
"If next week's budget fails to deliver that investment, Labor will have let families down once again."
