Hume MP Angus Taylor says local families are set for child care cost relief – and their children will benefit from more learning opportunities as part of reforms to the system.
He says the changes would help families which were finding that fees and expenses put access to child care and early learning out of reach.
“We know the cost pressures families face so we’ve taken action to overhaul a broken system to deliver more affordable, accessible and flexible services for families and children,” Mr Taylor said.
“Our changes will inject $1.6 billion of additional investment into the system – with around one million families across the country to be better off – including many of the 7,540 families in my electorate of Hume who use child care and early learning services.”
Mr Taylor said the reforms were designed with regional and rural early childhood education and care services and their families in mind.
They target support to people working the most and earning the least – and will encourage more than 230,000 families to return to the workforce.
“Many services in regional and rural areas are part of the old ‘Budget Based Funded’ system that has capped funding and is closed to new services, but under our reforms they will also have access to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional support and a funding guarantee,” Mr Taylor said.
The reforms will come into effect from July 2 next year and there are three key features:
• Better support for people working the most and earning the least.
• Relief from the rebate cap;
• Downward pressure on incessant fee increases.
“Our reforms also include stronger compliance powers to further stamp out rorting, more flexibility for the hours child care centres open, and additional investment for services to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds or with additional needs,” Mr Taylor said.
“I look forward to discussing the reforms with families across Hume and to seeing the benefits flow.”
In coming weeks the government will begin communicating the changes to families and services, and a calculator will be available for families to determine how the reforms will benefit them.
For further information on the reforms, visit the jobs for families website here.
