The Coalition would reinstate the activity test for parents looking to access early childhood education and care if it is elected on May 3.
The decision, first reported by The Australian, would reverse Labor’s move to scrap the activity test and give all families access to three days of subsidised care a week, regardless of how much paid work or study parents engage in.
Previous analysis has shown that the activity test contributes to at least 126,000 children from the poorest households across Australia missing out on early childhood education and care.
The activity test has created a system where working parents can access subsidised early childhood education and care for their children — but where others parents can’t afford to access affordable childcare to be able to get back into the workforce.
Campaign Director of The Parenthood, Maddy Butler, said the abolition of the activity is widely supported by a wide variety of groups, including The Productivity Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce.
“The activity test is a hugely unpopular policy in Australia. Reinstating it will set Australian children and families back,” Butler said.
“The activity test is an obsolete policy that has long prevented tens of thousands of children, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds from accessing early learning.
“Its abolition has been supported by every corner of society, from business groups to unions to health advocates and beyond.”
The Coalition policy was revealed by The Australian, who also reported that the Coalition would not scrap the Building Early Education Fund announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year. The fund would invest $1 billion into building or expanding early childhood services in regional and rural areas.
The Coalition has also said it would establish a $100 million grant program for providers setting up flexible alternatives to the long day care model.
“The Opposition’s childcare plan is one step forward, one step back,” Butler said on Wednesday.
“Their support for the BEEF and their proposed Regional Australia Future Fund will help ensure that the dire shortage of early learning services in regional and rural communities is addressed. A proposed $100m grant program for ‘flexible and innovative’ early learning models will also support rural and remote communities where a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate.
“However, their plan to reinstate the punitive activity test will almost certainly make it much more difficult for marginalised families, including those from the regions, to access childcare.”
Butler said bringing back the activity test would restrict early learning for vulnerable children and prevent tens of thousands of mothers from re-entering the workforce.
“We implore the Liberal-National Coalition to reconsider their position and support the abolition of this punitive, obsolete measure that has held Australian families back for far too long,” Butler said.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions said reintroducing the activity test shows that the Coalition has no understanding of the need for women to have reliable access to childcare before they can be considered “active”.
“The Coalition’s approach to taking this away will hurt thousands of women – because the reality is that women still shoulder most of the caregiving load while families seek more flexible work arrangements,” ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said.
Senator Steph Hodgins-May, the Greens spokesperson for early childhood education and care, said the activity test is “a failed Morrison-era policy that punishes parents who need support the most”.
“The activity test unfairly punishes low-income families, especially those in insecure work or trying to re-enter the workforce, by creating a catch-22 where parents can’t get childcare without a job, and can’t get a job without childcare,” Hodgins-May said.
“It locks over 100,000 children out of early education and disproportionately hurts single parents, families in insecure work, and those already out of the workforce. Reinstating it would be cruel and a massive step backward away from universal access to childcare.”