2025-08-14
Ahead of the Government’s productivity roundtables, the Productivity Commission’s interim report on Delivering quality care more efficiently re-affirms that the Government must urgently deliver bold reform for the care sector, with the Greens arguing early childhood education and care should be firmly on the agenda.
The interim report proposes that the Government pursue greater alignment in quality and safety regulation across all care sectors.
Today, Australian Greens spokesperson for early childhood education and care, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, has written to the Treasurer urging that universal, affordable and high-quality early learning be a central item on the roundtable agenda to help achieve its stated goals of improving living standards, boosting productivity and strengthening economic resilience.
Expanding access to high-quality early learning would enable more women to participate in the workforce, support children’s development and deliver substantial long-term economic returns. Yet the current privatised childcare system remains a major barrier, leaving too many children locked out of the quality education they need in their early years.
Lines attributable to Australian Greens spokesperson for early education and care, Senator Steph Hodgins-May:
“Early education is a vital part of the care sector and essential to lifting national productivity.
“A shift to a universal, low-cost, high-quality early learning system would be a game-changer for families, children and the economy. Research shows such a system could grow the economy by $168 billion and generate an additional $48 billion in government revenue.
"The childcare subsidy model and market-driven approach make early learning inaccessible and unaffordable for many families, and clearly fails to guarantee safety or quality."
“This broken system is locking young parents, especially women, out of the workforce and stopping them from contributing their full skills to our economy.
“If the Government is serious about boosting productivity, it must examine every part of the system.
“Early learning is low-hanging fruit for real reform. Let’s create a bold legacy of universal, high-quality early education that gives kids the best start in life and gives parents real choices to get back into work and study.”