Labor is quietly advancing plans for universal childcare in Australia, with new laws to require private operators to hand over sensitive commercial data needed to design a new national system. Source: The Guardian.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants a dramatic expansion in quality childcare services to form part of his political legacy and has pledged to move forward with the plans this term.
The government has already commissioned a private research project on sector wages, property costs and the experience of families and operators, in order to understand the scale of the ambition.
New changes to tax laws used to facilitate childcare benefits and other government payments are being progressed through Parliament to allow the Department of Education to require private companies to hand over data about costs and services pricing.
The department will be able to receive any information reasonably required for the research, known as the Early Education Service Delivery Prices Project.
The Guardian reported in August that Labor had commissioned consulting giant Deloitte to lead the two-year project.
Provisions included in legislation designed to improve integrity and access to higher education services will create the new powers to collect commercially sensitive data on childcare operators, expected to be used when private companies running early childhood education and care services refuse to provide it voluntarily.
Proper authorisation will be needed for handling of protected information in research, statistical analysis and policy development.
Education Minister Jason Clare told Parliament the new powers would ensure information provided to government was “accurate, comprehensive and representative”.
“Getting a better understanding of the reasonable costs to deliver early childhood education and care services around the country will help us to deliver evidence-based reforms,” he said.
The government will spend at least $10.4 million on the research, with Deloitte required to assess service demands and collect data across the early childhood education system.
Findings will help inform “further decisions about the pathway” towards universal childcare.
FULL STORY
Labor advances universal childcare plan with new laws to allow collection of data from private operators (By Tom McIlroy, The Guardian)
