Early childhood is an important launchpad for life
BSL welcomes the Government’s recent commitments towards a universal early education and care system
The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) welcomes the Government’s commitments towards a universal early education and care system, announced in December 2024. At BSL, we believe that all children have a right to quality and affordable early education and care, and that enabling every child to thrive in early childhood is central to advancing an Australia free of poverty.
We welcome the Government’s commitment to scrap the Activity Test for the Child Care Subsidy and replace it with a 3 Day Guarantee for access to early childhood education and care. We have long called for the abolition of this punitive Activity Test (see, for example, BSL’s submissions to the Productivity Commission in 2023 and back to 2014 ). A report from Impact Economics and Policy in 2022 showed that the test denies access to early childhood education and care to at least 126,000 children from some of the country's poorest households. “What a parent does or earns should never hinder the access their child has to quality education and care in their early years” said our Executive Director Travers McLeod when quoted in this Herald Sun story .
We are also pleased to see attention on reducing the challenge of “childcare deserts”, or a lack of early childhood education opportunities in low-income, outer-metro and regional areas, through the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund and a focus on co-locating services on school sites wherever possible and on supporting the growth of high-quality not-for-profit providers. We also welcome government’s review of early education service delivery pricing, and urge them to consider broader changes to the funding system to ensure it meets the objectives of a high quality, universal, integrated and inclusive early childhood development system.
We look forward to seeing further commitments to strengthen Australia’s early childhood development system over the coming months and will continue to be strong advocates for change that improves opportunities for both children and their parents.