The Albanese Labor Government has today introduced legislation to deliver an early education 3 Day Guarantee and replace the Liberal’s Activity Test.
Every child has the right to go to school – and governments have a responsibility to make that possible.
We believe every child has the right to go to early education, to help make sure they don’t start school behind – and our Labor Government is going to make this possible.
This legislation introduced today guarantees three days a week of subsidised early education for children who need it from January 2026.
Families earning between $50,000 to $100,000 who will be better off under the 3 Day Guarantee are expected to save on average $1,460 per year.
This provides cost-of-living relief to families and helps ensure that children can access the benefits of high-quality early education and care.
This is good for families and good for children.
Under this reform, more than 100,000 families will be entitled to more hours of subsidised care.
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will also establish a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund, which is the next step in creating universal child care system in Australia.
More centres will be built and expanded in areas of need, including in the outer suburbs and regional Australia.
The Building Early Education Fund will deliver grants to providers and the Government will also explore options for the Commonwealth to invest in owning and leasing out services.
It will include a focus on co-locating services on school sites and on supporting the growth of high-quality not-for-profit providers.
This is a key part of ensuring more Australian families can access quality early education and care.
Comment attributable to Minister for Education, Jason Clare:
“We have made child care cheaper for more than 1 million families.
“We are delivering a 15 per cent pay rise to build the early education workforce.
“The 3 Day Guarantee is the next step.
“It means more children will be able to access early education and care and more likely to start school ready to learn.
“This is a key part of our plans to build a universal early education system and make sure that every child gets a great start in life.”
Comment attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education, Dr Anne Aly:
“The activity test locks out the children who can most benefit from early childhood education and care.
“The 3 Day Guarantee is about making sure that every child no matter their background and no matter where they live, has access to the transformative benefits of early childhood education and care.
“We’re laying the foundation for a truly universal early childhood education system through improving affordability, boosting supply, increasing accessibilty and securing the vital workfroce families rely on.”
