Free early childhood education and care
Early learning costs in Australia are out of control, and it’s holding kids back by denying them early learning opportunities.
High fees make our society less equal, and limit choices for women, who often give up study, career and work opportunities to take on caring responsibilities. Early childhood educators face low pay and poor working conditions, while centres are run for big profits.
Our childcare and early childhood education system is one of the most expensive in the world.
The Greens plan includes:
- Invest $19bn over the next four years to ensure early childhood education and care is free and accessible for everyone
- Extend universal access to early childhood education for all 3 and 4 year olds to 24 hours a week
- Ensure early childhood educators have well paid, secure jobs
- Strengthen early learning for First Nations children through support for First Nations community-controlled services
- Boost women’s capacity to engage in paid work, and relieve financial pressure on parents, guardians and caregivers
- Phase out for-profit early learning and ensure every child has access to a high-quality government-provided or not-for-profit service
Public schools that meet everyone's needs
Liberal and Labor have given billions to private schools. At the same time, public schools are underfunded and desperate for resources. This means out-of-pocket costs are hiked up, and parents are forced to pay sometimes thousands of dollars of ‘voluntary fees’.
The Liberals have given Government money to private schools for infrastructure whilst public school playgrounds are filled with demountable classrooms, and students and staff swelter through summers without air conditioning.
If we don’t make a big investment in public schools, 99% won’t have the funding they need by 2023.
The Greens plan includes:
- The largest investment in public education of any party
- $49 billion to fully fund public schools, making school genuinely free for all students with the resources every student needs to learn
- Ensure there’s no expenses for parents for out-of-school-hours activities such as sport and music, which should be considered essential parts of the public curriculum
- Increase building and infrastructure funding to $400 m a year and ensure that the majority of funds go to public schools
- Invest $68.5 million to provide free period products in all schools to improve students’ health and wellbeing, reduce period stigma, and ensure that no student has to skip school during their period
- Fund a national roll out of Our Watch’s successful respectful relationships program in all public schools, including pilot programs to help tailor training to address local contexts and maximise the impact
Wipe Student Debt & Make TAFE and Uni Free
Enormous study debts are holding young people back. As they face high youth unemployment and record housing and living costs, young people struggle to afford a better life amidst great social inequality.
Nearly three million people owed an average of $23,685 in study debt in 2020-21.
It’s time that young people were provided with relief from their debt sentence and money was put back into the pockets of those who need it most.
The Greens plan includes:
- Abolish all student debt
- Fund lifelong free education for all
- Guarantee every student a liveable income
- Reversing the Liberals’ cuts and democratise our universities by giving power back to staff and students on campuses
- Make our public universities and TAFEs sustainable and accessible through the Green Education Infrastructure Fund
Raise Youth Allowance, Abstudy & AuStudy
Too many students live in poverty and can’t keep their head above water. We need to increase the payments students receive.
One in seven students regularly goes without food and other necessities while studying, and nearly a third of students work more than 20 hours a week.
The Greens plan includes:
- Introduce a liveable income guarantee for people 18 and over
- Raise the rate of Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy to $88 a day
- Remove the parental income and asset test for those not living at home
- Our Liveable Income Guarantee raises all income support payments above the poverty line to $88 a day, including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy, Austudy, the aged pension and many more ›
Better pay for educators
Higher education is in crisis. Funding cuts have eroded the quality of education and research; staff face insecure working conditions; and academic freedom is increasingly being trampled on by corporate influence.
In 2019, 65% of all staff in universities were employed in insecure casual and fixed-term contracts.1
Staff working conditions influence student learning conditions. Academics, teachers and support staff need better pay and conditions for the important work they do.
For those working in Higher Ed, the Greens plan includes:
- Reversing the Liberals’ cuts and boosting university funding by 10% to enable quality teaching, learning and research
- Increasing job security and slashing casualisation at TAFE and uni
- Investing in world class research by boosting block grant funding for universities by $5.5 billion
- Establish a Secure Work for Researchers fund, to help universities and research institutes transition their workers to secure employment
- Democratise our universities by giving power back to staff and students on campuses
For those working in early childhood and P-12 schools:
- Our Free Early Childhood Education and Childcare plan ensures early childhood educators have well paid, secure jobs.
- Our Public Schools That Meet Everyone’s Needs plan ensures schools are properly funded and resourced, so teachers aren’t forced to dip into their own pocket to buy essential school supplies.
- NTEU 2021-22 budget submission, derived from “Selected Higher Education Statistics – 2020 Staff data,” https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/staff-data/selected-higher-education-statistics-2020-staff-data
Together, we’re powerful.
We have a plan to reduce the cost of living, make housing more affordable, tackle the climate crisis, and make sure everyone is looked after.
We'll take on the big corporations, stop them ripping you off, and and tax them to fund the things that everyone needs. The Greens are fighting for you.