Statement 1: Budget Overview (Continued)
High quality, affordable and flexible child care
Building on the Government's record investment this Budget will provide $660.1 million to continue the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education to ensure universal access to quality childhood education programs, including $4.5 million in Commonwealth only expenditure. This new agreement will ensure that the current level of service delivery is maintained, with additional focus given to Indigenous, vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
This Budget also includes the establishment of a $300 million Early Years Quality Fund. The fund will assist eligible long day care services to attract and retain qualified professional employees by providing funding directly to these services to help supplement wage increases.
In addition, the Government has announced $12.9 million over three years as part of a package to trial flexible child care arrangements and establish a Child Care Accessibility Fund for eligible local governments to ease critical child care shortages in their communities. The Government will provide an additional $71.1 million in 2012‑13 to meet the increased demand for the Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance program, the family day care component of the Community Support Program and the Inclusion Support Subsidy program.
These measures build on the Government's increase in the Child Care Rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of out‑of‑pocket costs and the annual cap from a maximum of $4,354 up to $7,500 per child to help make child care more affordable for families.
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