Anthony Albanese fast-tracks cost of living relief
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to fast-track legislation to introduce new measures to help struggling families and students during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
The legislation will be introduced to parliament in the next two weeks which will include a guarantee of three days of subsidised childcare each week for Australian families, and will make fee-free TAFE permanent.
The Labor government said three days of subsidised childcare is “about putting in place the building blocks for a universal childcare system”, with Education Minister Jason Clare saying the policy “is fundamentally about making sure every child gets a great start in life and start school ready to learn."
“At the moment the children who need early education the most can’t access it,” Clare said.
“They are missing out. As a result they start school behind and often never catch up. This will help fix that. Every child has the right to go to school — and governments have a responsibility to make that possible."
“We believe every child has the right to go to early education, to help make sure they don’t start school behind — and our Labor government is going to make this possible.”
Passing laws to make fee-free TAFE permanent will save “students thousands of dollars to train in key occupations, while delivering the skilled workers Australia needs”, the Albanese government said.
“Our focus is on Building Australia’s Future while helping with the cost of living now,” Leader of the House Tony Burke said.
“This fortnight we’ll continue delivering on that agenda — securing cost-of-living support for families through childcare reforms, while setting up our future prosperity through skills, training and future industry,” Burke said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has opposed most cost-of-living measures, claiming they will have the opposite effect by pushing up inflation and delaying interest rate cuts.
However, underlying inflation is now sitting at 3.2 per cent, and most economists believe the Reserve Bank will cut rates on February 18th.
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