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The Productivity Commission has recommended that the federal government increase funding and simplify subsidies for early childhood education and care. It also said the controversial “activity test” should be scrapped, and called on state governments to provide out-of-hours care for older children in public schools.
The commission said every family who chooses to access early education should get at least 30 hours or three days of access a week.
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“What it really underlines is, at the moment, it’s children from the most disadvantaged families that are the most likely to benefit from early education and care and the least likely to access it today. It sets out a bunch of recommendations to help to fix that.”
He said implementing the full report would take a decade and cost about $17bn.
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“To achieve the long-term goal of a universal ECEC system, the Australian government should first act to ensure that cost is not a barrier to access for children from low-income families.”
Associate commissioner Deborah Brennan added: “A child’s entitlement to at least three days of ECEC a week should not depend on how much their parents work.”
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Clare said the government wanted to hear from the childcare industry about steps forward. The minister said the government would “look at all of these recommendations”, including around the activity test and making early education free for low income families.
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