Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time, so it can now be discussed in greater detail.

What does the bill do?

According to the bills digest (which is a document prepared by the parliamentary document):

The Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 (the Bill) modifies the Child Care Subsidy activity test so that:

• families can access a minimum of 72 hours of subsidised care a fortnight regardless of their time spent in recognised activities—a ‘3 Day Guarantee’

• those with more than 48 hours of recognised activities per fortnight can access 100 hours of subsidised care

• families caring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will be able to access 100 hours of subsidised care a fortnight regardless of their activity level—up from a minimum of 36 hours of subsidised care a fortnight.

The changes are intended to commence from 1 January 2026.

The current activity test determines the number of hours of subsidised child care a family can access. Those with fewer than 8 hours of recognised activities—such as work or study—a fortnight cannot access any subsidised hours unless the family’s income is under $83,280 (in which case they can access 24 hours of subsidised care a fortnight).

Government advisory bodies and peak bodies have called for the abolition of the activity test as it acts as a barrier to access to early childhood education and care, particularly for lower income families and those with irregular work patterns.

The changes will improve child care affordability for a small proportion of families but the settings for determining hours of subsidised care will remain complex.

The changes could increase demand with places already limited in many areas.

The Bill was referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 21 March 2025.