The 2024-2025 Federal Budget contains some good news for early childhood educators and parents, and KindiCare is here to take you through it.     

BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

MAY 15, 2024

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Third time’s a charm” and when it comes to childcare and the Federal Budget, this is somewhat true.  

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has delivered his third Budget, and it contains decisions and dollars designed to please the many early childhood educators and parents who are providing childcare in this country. 

However, it also pays to remember that other phrase, “Patience is a virtue,” because although the 2024-2025 Budget sets aside big money for some much-needed initiatives, we do need to be patient when it comes to two key commitments – a wage rise for childcare workers and superannuation being applied to Paid Parental Leave.   

That said, there’s plenty of other money being splashed around to ease our current cost of living pressures, and to get you up to speed, here are seven Budget highlights for all us Australians who are caring for kids. 

1. Early childhood educators can expect a wage rise.  

The federal government has officially made a commitment to fund a pay increase for childcare (and aged care) workers, which you can read all about in this KindiCare article. 

In summary, though, the government has set aside billions of dollars for wage increases in the care sector, and they’re waiting for the current Fair Work Commission processes to play out before finalising the details of what wage rise childcare workers will actually get – and when. 

The government has confirmed that it will invest $30 million over two years (from 2024-2025) in IT and payment services to deliver on its wage rise commitment.  

2. The Budget offers a tax cut for all 13.6 million Australian taxpayers.  

On average, Australian taxpayers will get a tax cut of $1,888 in 2024-2025 (or $36 per week), which is good news for working parents, but childcare workers won’t see such a huge change.  

They can expect an average tax cut of $811 per year, compared with the $1,802 average tax cut that primary and secondary school teachers will enjoy.  

3. There’s more money for ECEC services to support children with additional needs.  

An extra $98.4 million will be provided through the Inclusion Support Program to help early childhood education and care services increase their capacity to support children with additional needs, such as by hiring extra educators to address barriers to inclusion.  

This is welcome news for families, childcare providers and society as a whole, because it’s so important that every single child reaps the rewards of early childhood education and care.   

4. Super will be part of the government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme.  

The Budget confirms that the government will pay superannuation on government-funded Paid Parental Leave, but not immediately.  

This new approach applies to parents welcoming their child on or after 1 July 2025, and parents can expect payments to be made annually to their super fund from 1 July 2026. 

This $1.1 billion Budget spend builds on the government’s existing investment in Paid Parental Leave, which will see Paid Parental Leave days increasing to 110 days (22 weeks) from 1 July 2024, then moving on up to 130 days (26 weeks) by 1 July 2026. 

5. Households and small businesses will soon get help with energy bills.  

The government is spending $3.5 billion to provide energy bill relief for all Australian households and around one million small businesses.  

This means that from 1 July 2024, households will get a $300 rebate to help with the cost of running the washing machine, dishwasher and all those other power-guzzling elements of family life. 

Meanwhile, eligible small businesses will get $325 towards their electricity bills, which may be great for family day cares.  

6. The medical system is getting a Budget boost.   

Health and wellbeing is a big part of caring for children, and the Budget is promising cheaper medicines (thanks to an agreement with community pharmacies), and more options when it comes to healthcare. 

$2.8 billion is being spent to strengthen the Medicare system, and there are 29 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics on the cards, which will be great for families who need medical advice outside GP hours, but don’t want to spend all night waiting for help at a hospital.  

7. Rent Assistance is rising again. 

Almost one million households are set to benefit from a 10% increase to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, and this is good news for families who are getting a Parenting Payment or Family Tax Benefit – Part A at more than the base rate.  

The 10% increase to Rent Assistance builds on the 15% increase last September, and it means that the maximum rate of Rent Assistance has gone up by $70+ per fortnight since May 2022 for single parents or couples with one or two children.

Of course, the above commitments aren’t the only news coming out of the 2024-2025 Budget. 

The Australian government is throwing millions, and often billions, at a variety of initiatives to help us get through this cost of living crisis and make life easier going forward, and you can read all the Budget detail here, or whip through the highlights in this Overview.