How the parties stack up on early learning

We've joined forces with the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) and Australian Community Children's Services (ACCS) to ask the major parties for commitments on our five key policy asks for the Federal Election.

The result is a federal election scorecard, which offers a quick and easy summary of what each party is offering in the early learning space.  #BestStartInLife

And here's how we decided on the scores for each party,
and each ask:

Two years of early learning: Labor and Greens fully met the commitment. The Coalition received a question mark on this issue as they support it in principle, but it is not funded.

Better support for children living in disadvantage: Labor and Greens fully met this commitment. The Coalition receives a half mark because they have a Child Care Safety Net which has no process to address issues – however they are committed to a policy process to improve access of disadvantaged children to preschool.

National workforce strategy: Labor fully meets the commitment. Coalition has made no commitment beyond asking ACECQA to consider the issue. Greens are committed in principle to supporting the workforce but have not committed funding to achieve it.

Improving quality: Labor and Greens fully meet commitment. Coalition is committed in principle to support quality and funding for ACECQA but has not restored funding cut from the National Partnership Agreement underpinning quality.

Child Care Subsidy: Greens fully meet the commitment. Labor receives a three-quarter mark for a big commitment to make child care more affordable but is marked down for making no commitment to fix the activity test for all families (although promising a ‘review’ and an exemption for three-year olds). Coalition has offered no new initiatives to improve child care affordability or to fix the activity test.

We hope you find this scorecard useful in helping families understand what each political party is offering the early learning sector. #BestStartInLife 

You can check out the detailed responses from each party here:  
Labor
Liberal/National Coalition
Australian Greens