From what we’ve seen in the media, you would think the majority of taxpayers are unhappy with the changes and even more unhappy with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. But a survey of 1245 voters between January 31 and February 3 by Newspoll tells us otherwise.

While just 38 per cent of survey respondents said they would benefit from Albanese’s revised tax cut plan, 62 per cent of voters said the Prime Minister made the right choice to amend the Stage 3 tax cuts plan.

So, what does this data mean? 

Backflip or boost?

It is true that Anthony Albanese changed the government’s position on the Stage 3 tax cuts, a plan which was legislated by the Morrison government in 2019 and due to come into effect in July this year.

It was one of Albanese’s election promises to follow through with the legislated tax cut plan, until he announced earlier this year that the Labor government would be revising the plan to “boost the family budgets of middle Australia”.

Coalition parliamentarians, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton leading the charge, used this announcement as a chance to attack Albanese and the Labor government for “lying” to taxpayers, backflipping and breaking an election promise. 

While that might be true, however hyperbolised, Albanese appeared at the National Press Club of Australia two weeks ago to explain to voters how the changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts might benefit them.

“These tax cuts will provide meaningful help for parents returning to work, particularly women with young children,” Albanese said in his speech. 

“Because one of the things that we know is that when women with children are making decisions about how many hours an increase in their take home pay is a powerful incentive.”

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Albanese has not shied away from media scrutiny. On Sunday, the Prime Minister spoke with David Speers on ABC’s Insiders, backing the call despite hard questioning.

“Circumstances have changed,” Albanese said in his defence of the tax cut revision, “and what we’ve done is respond to the changes to the economic circumstances.

“I’ve gone to the National Press Club and said, ‘we’ve changed our position’. Why have we done that? Because we’ve listened to people.”

Albanese’s clear communication – in the media, at the Press Club, on social media platforms – has clearly not gone unnoticed. Perhaps voters have seen through the negative messaging from the Opposition and understand that this reform could actually be a good thing.

You’ll get a tax cut on July 1, whether you’re a teacher, a nurse, a cleaner, an engineer, or a truck driver. pic.twitter.com/Ke6b1PBS9Z

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 4, 2024

Other changes

It’s not the first time a Prime Minister has changed their position on a policy. In the early weeks of her leadership in July 2010, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared she would not be introducing a tax on carbon in Australia.

Just months later in early 2011, Gillard unveiled a carbon tax plan.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the decision was a “historic betrayal” and hinged much of his leadership on negativity and opposition of the Labor Party, as well as Gillard’s broken promise.

Again, it’s not the first time a Coalition leader’s foundation is based on negative messaging. We see much of that now with opposition leader Peter Dutton and his outspoken, divisive discourse on issues such as the Voice to Parliament, Australia Day and now the Stage 3 tax cuts.

However, as the Prime Minister said on ABC’s Insiders, Albanese has been “honest” and “upfront” about the position change on the tax cuts. And perhaps that has made all the difference.

Can we forgive him?

Teal independent Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender’s speech at the National Press Club, one week after Albanese’s, also backs up what the Newspoll data suggests. As the MP for Australia’s wealthiest electorate, Spender put the call out to hear from her constituents on how they feel about Albanese’s announcement to revise the tax cut plan.

Spender said the Wentworth electorate is split on the call – but on the whole, “most people are saying this is a good thing”, despite having the “biggest proportion of people who are going to lose out”.

“There’s actually a really significant group of people who would have benefited, who are also saying, you know what, we want to help other people. This is a really hard time right now,” she told the Press Club.

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There is some truth to the messaging of the Coalition beyond the negative, damning attacks on the Labor party. As Spender rightly pointed out, a lot of high income earners were banking on the original Stage 3 tax cuts plan and feel “completely let down” by the changes.

But I think what Spender’s speech and the Newspoll data tells us, is that the majority of people know that there are others doing it tougher, and it’s those people who will benefit from the changes the most.

So maybe Albo’s “broken promise” isn’t such a bad thing. If Newspoll’s data is right, people care about those who are most affected by cost of living. Humanity wins, negativity loses, and maybe this time we can forgive Albanese for a broken promise.

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Palaszczuk returned from her two-week holiday in Italy on the weekend and fronted a press conference on Monday morning, responding to reporters’ questions surrounding her leadership.

“I feel refreshed, I feel energised and I’m absolutely determined to lead the party and this government to the next election. I just want to make that very clear to everybody,” she said.

Palaszczuk also revealed she was rushed to emergency in June while attending a Labor state conference in Mackay. She told reporters she spent around six hours in hospital and had some tests done, but “everything’s fine now”.

The Queensland Premier, who has been in power since 2015, faced public scrutiny and party discontent for taking her two-week leave break in Italy at the end of August. 

However, Palaszczuk said it was an “invasion of privacy” when journalists tracked her down and interrupted her holiday. She also said she timed her break so she could be here for the bushfire season, which is expected to hit high levels of severity.

“It’s healthy for leaders to have a break, and I felt I needed a break,” she said.

Controversial legislation

In the last sitting week of Parliament before the Premier’s holiday, the Queensland government faced intense backlash for passing controversial legislation that suspended the Human Rights Act, which legalises the detention of children in adult prisons and police watch houses.

While human rights organisations condemned the government’s actions, police minister Mark Ryan at the time said the change was necessary to address “immediate capacity issues” in Queensland’s detention system and the legislation would not facilitate the detention of young people in adult watch houses.

Palaszczuk admitted to reporters at Monday’s press conference that she needed to “explain things better” to the public and to her colleagues in the Queensland Parliament, particularly concerning the suspension of the Human Rights Act.

Queensland's Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk is under pressure for the state's decision to suspend its own Human Rights Act. #abc730 pic.twitter.com/ogCEDXUUVb

— ABC News (@abcnews) August 28, 2023

“It’s my job to explain things better to the caucus and better to Queenslanders… I’m always happy to improve,” she said.

“In relation to the amendment that went through, we would have preferred it would have gone to committee. However, legal action was being taken and we’ve got legal advice that said we needed to fix it up as quickly as possible.”

‘I can always do things better.’

The next state election in Queensland is scheduled for October 2024. Recent polling by RedBridge group found 41 per cent of the 2,000 respondents listed the Liberal National Party as their first preference, compared to 26 per cent for Palaszczuk’s Labor party.

However, the Premier, who described herself as an inspiration for women and girls in Queensland, maintains confidence in her leadership.

“Politics needs people who care… not selfish people, not ambitious people. They need good, decent people,” Palaszczuk said.

“I believe I’m the best person (to be Premier) because I believe that we have the plans, the policy plans for this state.”

Palaszczuk said she was unaware of any discontent within her Labor government in relation to her role as leader of the Labor party.

“Not one person has raised any issues with me, but of course, as a government and as the leader of the government, I can always do things better,” she said.

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According to a report from The Australian, the government is considering reforming the current paid parental leave system to encourage more fathers to take it in the first two years of their child’s life.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said she supports offering more flexibility to parents and families when it comes to government funded paid parental leave.

Rishworth also said she believes more men want to have the opportunity to become primary caregivers when they have a child. She has also indicated she will open discussions with business and employers about how best to create a system that will work for families.

Currently, paid parental leave funded by the federal government offers a primary caregiver (most often the mother in heterosexual relationships) 18 weeks of leave at the minimum wage. Men often receive two weeks of “partner pay” as a secondary carer.

Providing both parents with the opportunity to take up adequate paid parental leave could be a game-changing reform for young families, and it could help improve women’s participation in the workforce.

Removing “primary” and “secondary” labels is considered an important step in encouraging fathers to take parental leave, as is a “use it or lose it” approach to nudge men into taking the leave that is dedicated to them.

Paid parental leave policies that encourage shared responsibility between parents for the care of children have been shown to promote women’s participation in the paid workforce, and also set up a pattern of a more equal division of care work between partners.

In the Morrison government’s final budget before the election, the two weeks of “partner pay” was merged with the 18 weeks of parental leave for the primary carer. It meant that either parent would be able to take up to 20 weeks of the paid parental leave on offer.

While an improvements for single parents, the policy was criticised for removing the specific provision for fathers.

Recent data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency showed three in five employers now offer paid parental leave in some form to their employees. The paid parental leave offered by leading firms is often much more generous than the government’s offering. For example, KPMG has boosted its paid parental leave scheme to to 26 weeks, with no “primary” or “secondary” carer status.

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Lucy Hood, Rhiannon Pearce, Erin Thompson, Nadia Clancy and Olivia Savvas are the women confirmed to become Labor MPs having won seats from the Liberal Party. Sarah Andrews in the Gibson electorate is also likely to win the seat from outgoing Transport Minister Corey Wingard.

Lucy Hood won the Adelaide electorate, Rhiannon Pearce won King, Erin Thompson won Davenport, Nadia Clancy won Elder, Olivia Savvas won Newland.

In the Liberal Party, two women, Ashton Hurn and Penny Pratt, will enter parliament after winning the safe seats of Schubert and Frome, replacing two male Liberal MPs.

The Labor election win has seen the end of the current Liberal government, who came into power in 2018. Before that Labor had held government in South Australia for 16 years.

New Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas said his party is “what modern Labor looks like”.

‘I stand here today as the leader of modern Labor Party that reflects our society, a very high proportion of female members of parliament,” Malinauskas said.

“There is a substantial task before us – and there isn’t a moment to lose. And with these new Labor MPs on our team, we can get this done.”

Peter Malinauskas was sworn in as South Australia’s new premier on Monday morning following the landslide election win. He will lead a majority government, with Susan Close sworn in as Deputy Premier and Stephen Mullighan as Treasurer.

Malinauskas will confirm his other cabinet appointments over the coming days.

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The government made the announcement late on Tuesday night, just moments before an embargo lifted on Labor’s pledge to appoint a family, domestic and sexual violence commissioner, and fund 500 new community sector workers to support women, if it wins the next election.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese announced Labor’s new policies on Wednesday morning, saying the “scourge of domestic violence is a stain on our nation” and we need to do more to combat it. Labor would commit $153 million over four years, with half of the 500 new community sector workers to be in rural and regional areas. Its domestic, family, and sexual violence commissioner would act as an advocate for victim-survivors and measure the government’s progress against the national plan.

In a joint statement, Minister for Women Marise Payne and Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston said the Morrison government would dedicate $22.4 million over five years to establish its commission.

The government says the commission will provide “policy leadership”, develop and foster relationships across the sector, and ensure cooperation and transparency between the commonwealth, states and territories their delivery of the next national plan.

“The new Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission will have responsibility for monitoring and reporting on accountability and evaluation frameworks against the next National Plan to ensure it delivers real and tangible actions that prevent violence, intervene early and better support victim-survivors,’ Payne said.

The commission will be classified as an executive agency and would be led by a chief executive or commissioner, and it would have research and secretariat staff.

When announcing its own policy on Wednesday, Labor said the Morrison government has “failed” to take domestic violence seriously over its eight years in power.

“Right now, women fleeing violence are being turned away from accommodation and services because of insufficient funding towards sector workers, and the failure to recognise this tragedy as a national priority,” Albanese said in a statement.

“Across the country domestic violence organisation tell us how much more they could do with an extra pair of hands.” 

Labor’s commitment for 500 new community workers would allow frontline services to employ extra case workers, financial counsellors to help women with their financial situation, and specialist support workers to help children.

On average, one woman is killed each week by a current or former partner in Australia and 1 in 3 women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.

Thursday is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.

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Currently, Working Women’s Centres, which are designed to help women navigate workplace and industrial relations issues including sexual harassment, only operate in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, and have not received adequate funding to operate at their full potential

On Tuesday, opposition leader Anthony Albanese also announced a Labor government would also invest $1.27 million to establish a “one-stop shop” to assist victims of workplace sexual harassment. This “one-stop shop” would be within the Australian Human Rights Commission, providing information about a victim’s rights, options for making a complaint and referrals to services. It would also be accessible to employers, to help them understand their responsibilities.

$1.5 million in funding would also be provided to the Australian Human Rights Commission to help them hear and document the experiences of victims of historical workplace sexual harassment.

These announcements come as part of commitment from Labor to fully implement all 55 recommendations of Kate Jenkins’ Respect@Work Report, aimed at addressing sexual harassment in workplaces across the country.

Last week, Women’s Agenda reported that the Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre is just weeks away from closing. Under the Morrison government, Working Women’s Centres have not received any certainty they will receive the funding recommended by Kate Jenkins.

One of the recommendations in the Respect@Work report called on the government to sufficiently fund the centres to ensure they can provide the services needed to help women understand and act on their workplace rights.

Last week, Kristine Ziwica wrote that the closure of Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre “would be a devastating blow for the women in that part of the country who rely on the service — and it will be a devastating blow for the women of Australia if the few remaining working women’s centres in South Australia and Queensland if they are forced to follow suit.”

In early April 2021, more than a year after Kate Jenkins had handed down her report, Scott Morrison failed to accept several of its key recommendations, including the recommendation to amend the sex discrimination act to include a “positive duty” on employers to take measures to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment.

“Back in April, Scott Morrison promised he would adopt every recommendation in the Respect@Work Report. Sadly, he’s not,” Albanese said on Tuesday.

“After commissioning the work in 2018, the Morrison Government ignored the final Respect@Work for over a year, leaving it to gather dust on the desk of former Attorney General, Christian Porter. It should not have taken this long.”

Over the past five years, one in three people in Australia have experienced sexual harassment at work, including two in five women.

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Queensland’s state election was always going to deliver an outcome for the record books.

This was Australia’s first poll at state or federal level contested by two female leaders. It was also the first state general election conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Counting continues after record numbers of pre-poll and postal votes, and a handful of seats remain in doubt. Regardless, the Labor government has been returned with what looks like an increased majority in a history-making third term for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

This shores up her political stocks in the continued battle with federal and state governments over border closures.

A tick of approval for Palaszczuk

The election campaign was run of the mill in many ways. It wasn’t so much dominated by the pandemic as framed by aspects of it, such as borders and plans for economic recovery.

But Queenslanders, by and large, appear to have given Palaszczuk’s government a tick of approval for its health and economic responses to coronavirus. Swings to the government were recorded in most parts of the state, with some surprising shifts towards Labor in areas like the Sunshine Coast.

The result reinforces the theory pandemic conditions favour incumbents and, similarly, the major parties. Western Australia’s Mark McGowan, who like Palaszczuk was a target of Coalition criticism over closed borders, will take heart ahead of a state election early next year.

However, this was not a straightforward repeat of recent election outcomes in the Northern Territory, ACT and New Zealand. Rather, this election panned out in ways particular to Queensland’s regional diversity, but still with ramifications for outside the state.

One Nation, Palmer barely register

The expected battleground over government-held marginal seats around Townsville and Cairns didn’t eventuate, with these seats holding firm against a concerted effort to get rid of Labor incumbents.

The LNP opposition’s pitch for a “crime crackdown” in the state’s north and plans for a youth curfew didn’t resonate, as at the last state election in 2017.

The headline story of the election was a dramatic collapse in the One Nation vote. The party nominated an unprecedented 90 candidates, yet leader Pauline Hanson was barely sighted during the campaign. What messages did emerge from Hanson’s camp — largely criticisms of COVID-19 measures — didn’t wash with an electorate seeking leadership and protection through the crisis.

Notably, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party hardly registered, with about 0.6% of the popular vote. This follows another big spend on often misleading advertising. The electorate may have woken up to Palmer’s “spoiler” agenda, with his investment perhaps only resulting in a push for stricter truth in political advertising rules.

There are now realistic doubts over the ability of either Palmer or Hanson to recover electorally from these setbacks. For its efforts, One Nation did hold on to its sole seat in north Queensland. Katter’s Australian Party, likewise, retained its three northern seats.

The single biggest upset result — although widely expected —– came in South Brisbane, where Labor’s former Deputy Premier Jackie Trad lost the seat she’s held since 2012. A rise in Greens support in inner-Brisbane suburbs, as seen in other capital cities, was long viewed as a threat to Trad’s grip on the former Labor stronghold.

This result shows there are subtexts to this election result, and it is not all about the pandemic. For 30 years, Labor has often won state elections on its ability to hold onto “fortress Brisbane”. However, the party can’t take that position for granted now.

Even with the LNP’s continuing inability to bridge the Brisbane bulkhead, Labor can’t rest on its laurels after this win. Inner-Brisbane electorates like Cooper and McConnel will be next targets for the Greens, whose support at this election was concentrated in the capital where they now hold two seats.

On track to beat Beattie

Palaszczuk is now the most successful female leader in Australian history, as the first to win three elections. If she serves the full four-year term, she’ll be Labor’s second-longest serving premier in this state, surpassing Peter Beattie. Labor by then will have governed Queensland for 30 of the past 35 years.

This win cements the premier’s authority in her party, which is particularly important when it comes to relations between her administration and the federal government. Discussions over states border closures and other pandemic responses at the National Cabinet will be watched with renewed interest.

At the same time, the election result raises pressing questions for defeated Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington and the LNP. After recent inner-party turmoil agitating against Frecklington’s leadership, it’s expected there will be jostling for new party leadership.

As now seems ritual after state elections, calls are expected for the unsuccessful LNP to de-merge. The often uneasy marriage of Queensland’s Liberals and Nationals — apparently at risk of a lurch to the arch-conservative right — appears incapable of broadening its support in both the state’s capital and the far north simultaneously.

As the final results come in, they will continue to provide important lessons for both the federal Coalition, as well as federal Labor, in how best to appeal to Queensland’s varied constituency.

Chris Salisbury, Research Assistant, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Putting women at the heart of Labor’s plan to kickstart the economy and get Australians back to work is compelling politics and policy because of the adverse implications women have suffered out of COVID19. Addressing the economic reality women in Australia are facing is desperately needed.  

Anthony Albanese chose to make women the priority in his Budget reply, not as a ‘footnote’ or worthy only of platitude. It was inspired and inspiring because he spoke with sincerity, nuance and understanding.

And, he backed it up with a targeted, significant path for change.

As has been highlighted from virtually all quarters in recent months, proposing substantive changes to early education and child care funding is the most effective way to deliver for women, children and the economy at the same time.    

A point it seems Labor understands. 

“Women are the key to kickstarting our economy again. In the worst recession in a hundred years, we have to make sure women aren’t forced to choose between their family and their jobs,” Albanese said. “We can’t just let fees and out-of-pocket costs keep skyrocketing. Labor has a plan to put more money in the family budget and help women get back to work, quickly. Working mothers should be able to afford child care for their kids. It’s as simple as that.”

It is.

“Labor created Medicare – universal health care.
We created the NDIS – universal support for people with disability.
We created superannuation – universal retirement savings for workers.
And – if I’m Prime Minister – I will make quality, affordable childcare universal too.“

Anthony Albanese in the Federal Budget Reply

Labor’s plan, the Working Family Childcare Boost, is designed to deal with the fact child care fees in Australia are some of the highest in the world and put more money into the pockets of working families, straight away.

“And it’s not welfare,” he said. “It’s structural reform.”

Labor would scrap the $10,560 child care subsidy cap which often sees women losing money from an extra day’s work, lift the maximum child care subsidy rate to 90 per cent and increase child care subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than $530,000.

It would mean 97% of all families in the system will save between $600 to $2,900 a year and no family would be worse off.

But, critically, there is also a plan to pursue structural change. 

The Productivity Commission would conduct a comprehensive review of the sector with the aim of implementing a universal 90%  subsidy for all families.

The ACCC would design a price regulation mechanism to shed light on costs and fees and drive them down for good, and also examine the relationship between funding, fees, profits and educators’ salaries. 

The Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education Amanda Rishworth said the case for this reform is clear.  

“The overwhelming evidence is clear: more women in the labour force is good for the economy, and quality early education is better for our kids,” Rishworth said. “Women aren’t working when they could, and families keep struggling to pay the bills. Labor’s Working Family Child Care Boost is an economic reform Australia desperately needs to create jobs.”

This plan is exactly the kind of bold and visionary reform this crisis – and Australian women – urgently require. It is a plan with the capacity to benefit all Australians but to be potentially transformative for women and their ability to achieve financial security.

And it’s likely to be very warmly – and widely – welcomed by voters. 

Last month, a national poll by Essential Research found a majority of Australians (65%) support an early childhood education system that is accessible to everyone, and integrated with our public education system.

The majority support for the proposal was across all ages, states and political affiliation.

Universal, quality early learning is the most compelling, valuable policy any government could pursue to ensure Australia’s recovery from COVID-19 leads to a healthier, more equitable and more sustainable future. 

Here’s hoping the Federal government is inspired to consider this proposal – and follow Labor’s lead.

Georgie Dent is Executive Director of The Parenthood and a contributing editor on Women’s Agenda.

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Wanting Senator Kristina Keneally as Penny Wong’s deputy leader in the senate required some shuffling. Two senior males, Don Farrell and Ed Husic, ultimately had to step aside for it to happen.

“Even though [Senator Farrell] had substantial support of Caucus colleagues, he was prepared to step aside as Labor’s deputy leader in the Senate on the basis that he understood that I had made it clear that my view was there needed to be gender balance in Labor’s leadership team,” the new Opposition Leader said on Thursday.

Earlier in the week Albanese had been unequivocal about wanting the former NSW Premier in the role.

“What I’m saying is, I’m making it very clear as leader of the Labor Party, I want the best team, and the best team includes Kristina Keneally,” he said.

Ed Husic took to Facebook to announce he would resign from the front-bench to make way for her ascent.

“We need to ensure someone of Kristina’s enormous talents has the opportunity to make a powerful contribution on the front line, in the Senate,” he wrote.

When asked on ABC’s Radio National if he was pushed Husic insists he wasn’t.

“It seems right that a man should step aside for a stellar woman to take over,” he said. “It is inconceivable that we could have a situation this week where someone of Kristina’s calibre, as a former premier, [could] be sitting on the backbench.”

But there is no denying the factional machinations were at play.

Senior men, with talent and potential, openly stepping aside for women with talent and potential is certainly a new phenomena. Naturally there have been comments about the merits of men “making way” for women.

Curiously these questions do seem to overlook the fact that there are – and always have been – a number of quotas at play in politics. How else can factional representation be explained?

If this is a sign that gender will openly be considered a factor, like an individual’s faction or state, that needs to be intentionally considered in determining the front bench that’s a welcome development.

The alternative – having no women in the Liberal party’s leadership and just one in Labor’s – in 2019 renders it critical.

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In an election campaign full of giveaways but short on serious economic reform, Labor’s proposed change to childcare support is the most important economic news.

It fits in with this year’s Grattan Institute Commonwealth Orange Book, which identified getting more women into the workforce as one of the most valuable things the next government could do.

Female participation in the labour force is lower in Australia than in similar countries. It is particularly low for women working full-time.

That’s because motherhood hurts female participation more in Australia than in other countries. Before having children, Australian women are just as likely to work as men. On having children, many drop out of work and some never go back. Those who do return often pay a career penalty.

Childcare is the biggest barrier to work

Childcare is the highest hurdle. When surveyed, more than 40% of Australian women who would like more work say caring for children and its cost are the main reasons they can’t take on more hours over the coming weeks.

Women with children get relatively little financial reward for entering the workforce, and even less for working more hours. Some find working more hours costs more than it pays.

They face high effective marginal tax rates because as they work more hours they lose more family and childcare benefits as well as paying more income tax. Factoring in the cost of
childcare itself, some face costs exceeding 100% of what they earn.

Here the Coalition deserves some credit. Its previous reforms to the childcare subsidy helped reduce effective marginal tax rates.

But there’s still a long way to go, with many mothers still facing very high effective rates.

Effective tax rates make returning expensive

A woman in a low-income household still loses 85 to 95 cents of every extra dollar she earns if she increases her work days from three to four, or from four to five.

Even women in middle earning households face effective marginal tax rates near 80% if they move from four days paid work per week to five.

These effective marginal rates are much higher than the headline marginal tax rate paid by those earning more than A$180,000 per year, which is the focus of many who purport to be worried about the impact of tax rates on incentives to work.

Labor will make work pay better

Under Labor’s proposal, childcare will become free for families with incomes of up to $69,000 a year, up to the hourly cap of $11.77 an hour, or $141 a day.

Families on higher incomes will still have to pay some of their childcare costs, but less than they do today.

Child care subsidy per child in care per day, 2020-21

The savings per extra day worked would be substantial.

Consider a middle-income family with two children in childcare: a primary earner bringing in the average full-time wage of $95,103 in 2020-21, and the other choosing how many days to work in a week in a job that would pay the median full-time wage of $61,000.

Labor’s plan would increase the reward for working an extra day a week by about $1,260 a year.

It would give that second earner an extra 10 cents out of every extra dollar she earns.

Gross earnings less childcare costs net of subsidy if second earner works an extra day

Now consider a lower-income family with a primary earner on $50,000 a year and a secondary earner in a job that also pays $50,000 a year full time, again with two children in childcare.

Labor’s plan will boost the reward for working two days a week rather than one by around $1,784 a year. That worker would be keeping an extra 18 cents out of every extra dollar she earned. The change would be more than big enough to lead many families to make different decisions about work.

The change will be smaller when the second income earner goes from working four days a week to five, because the subsidy tapers out. For this low income family, Labor’s plan would boost the reward for working four days rather than five by only $421, a four cents in the dollar improvement.

Gross earnings less childcare costs net of subsidy if second earner works an extra day

Again, the change is a big deal.

These improvements in effective marginal tax rates are much larger than those offered by the actual tax plans of either major party.

And the empirical evidence also suggests women caring for younger children are more sensitive than others to effective marginal tax rates, and more likely to change their decisions about working if effective marginal tax rates change.

It means Labor’s childcare plan is likely to provide a bigger economic kick for each dollar spent than either of the two sides’ proposed tax cuts.

The policy isn’t perfect

Some aspects need more work.

Labor plans to cut the subsidy suddenly from 60% to 50% for families with incomes above $174,527. The cliff will distort incentives to work for some second earners, because they’ll instantly have to pay a lot more for childcare – around an extra $5,000 a year more – the moment their household income climbs a dollar over $174,527.

A better approach would be to gradually reduce the subsidy rate from 60% for incomes of $174,527 to 50% for incomes above $205,000.

Childcare centres could raise their fees

Labor will also have to be careful to ensure its higher subsidies don’t simply result in childcare centres jacking up their prices and providing little benefit to families.

The existing cap on childcare subsidies of $11.77 per hour will limit any childcare fee increases. But Australians paid an average of just $9.20 per hour in 2018.

If the subsidies are higher so that many families only pay a small fraction of the cost of childcare, childcare providers will be very tempted to increase their fees up to the cap, and perhaps further. Centres serving lots of low-income families – who in many cases will pay nothing for childcare – will be particularly tempted.

Labor says it will ask the Competition and Consumer Commission to crack down on fee increases and to find ways to control child care fee increases in future. But past attempts to use the ACCC to police prices, such as during the introduction of the goods and services tax and the carbon tax, have had mixed success.

But overall, it’s a large and worthwhile reform

But overall, much of the increased subsidy is likely to be passed on to parents.

While there are limits to how much governments can influence economic growth, there are some worthwhile reforms they can pursue.

With its new childcare policy, Labor has produced one of the best there is.

John Daley, is Chief Executive Officer at Grattan Institute; Brendan Coates is a Fellow at Grattan Institute, and Carmela Chivers is an Associate at Grattan Institute. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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In a big hit announcement before the start of pre-polling, Bill Shorten on Sunday will pledge a A$4 billion boost for child care, making it cheaper for every family earning up to $174,000.

From July 2020, 887,000 families would benefit from the ALP plan, with some being up to $2,100 better off.

Under the initiative:

• families with children under five on incomes up to $174,000 would be better off on average by $26 a week – $1,200 a year – per child
• the majority of families earning up to $69,000 would get their child care free. This would save them up to $2,100 annually per child.

Families on incomes above $174,000 would continue to receive the same level of support as under current arrangements.

The plan is central to Labor’s campaign on cost of living, with Shorten describing it as “massive cost of living relief for nearly one million families struggling with the costs of child care”.

“Under the Liberals, the costs of child care has gone up 28%, costing families using long day care $3,000 more a year.

“Labor will increase the subsidy families receive, we will kick start the process to limit out-of-control child care price increases, and we will review the impact of the system on vulnerable and very low-income families,” Shorten says.

“This is a $4 billion investment in early education, in working parents and in helping families with the rising cost of living. Labor can pay for cheaper child care for working families because unlike Scott Morrison and the Liberals, we aren’t giving bigger handouts to the top end of town,” Shorten says. The $4 billion cost is over three years.

Source: ALP

The main elements of Labor’s plan include:

More child care fee support

The subsidy rate would be increased from 85% to 100% up to the hourly fee cap (currently $11.77 per hour for long day care) for families earning up to $69,000 who meet the activity test. This would make child care free, or almost free, for up to 372,000 families.

The present tapered reduction would be updated to reflect the higher subsidy rate.

Families earning between $69,000 and $100,000 would receive a subsidy rate between 100% and 85%, up to the hourly fee cap.

Families earning between $100,000 and $174,000 would receive a subsidy rate between 85% and 60% up to the cap – an effective increase of 10%.

Families accessing approved Centre Based Child Care, Family Day Care and Outside School Hours Care, including holiday care, would all benefit from the higher subsidy.

Cracking down on excessive fee increases

Labor would give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission a new role of investigating excessive fee increases and unscrupulous child care providers. Findings would be made public through mychildcarefinder.

The ACCC would also look at mechanisms to ensure greater controls on child care fee increases to keep child care affordable.

Reviewing the system for vulnerable children

Labor says that in the nine months of the current subsidy system, the number of vulnerable and very low-income families using it has fallen.

“Reports suggest the numbers accessing the Childcare Safety Net have fallen by almost half, from 35,000 to 21,000.

“Labor will urgently review the new system to make sure that vulnerable and low-income families and children aren’t falling through the cracks,” Shorten says.

Labor has already committed to every three-year-old child being able to receive 15 hours of subsidised preschool. It has also said it would extend the current arrangement for four-year olds.

Shorten says this would create “a two-year program to support the most important years of a child’s development and ensuring our kids don’t fall behind the rest of the world”. For many children this would be free or nearly free.

Labor is also set to make an announcement on boosting the wages of child care workers, who are among the low paid.

The first votes will be cast at pre-polling stations on Monday, as the campaign ramps up in its final three weeks. Scott Morrison and Shorten will meet in Perth late Monday for their first face-to-face debate.

Michelle Grattan is a Professorial Fellow from University of Canberra. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Human rights for women start with the ability to control our bodies. @tanya_plibersek https://t.co/RPSjV2ZMKQ

— Rae Cooper (@Raecooper1) March 5, 2019

The plan, announced by Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, would require public hospitals to provide abortion services to qualify for federal funding for the first time.

“Women have been turned away from public hospitals for termination services and have not been able to access or afford to go to a private clinic,” Plibersek told Fairfax Media. “Choosing to terminate a pregnancy is difficult enough. Forcing a woman to travel long distances or interstate to access surgical services can dramatically increase the emotional and financial burden.”

Making termination services consistently accessible in public hospitals would ease the already burden of seeking and funding adequate medical care.

“Women are losing rights that they have fought for decades to gain in the first place“ – @tanya_plibersek pic.twitter.com/sUi6b2QESS

— Gina Rushton (@ginarush) March 6, 2019

As part of the National Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy Labor would also push for abortions to be decriminalised in NSW and to review the Medicare rebate associated with medical terminations to address access and affordability.

It would also review the Medicare rebate for long-acting reversible contraceptives and explore options to reduce barriers to improve access to the contraceptive pill.

Every Australian woman should have access to the health services they need, where and when they need them.

https://t.co/8Ws2pbWBIr

— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) March 5, 2019

Under the strategy a “reproductive health hub” would be established in Tasmania, adjoining a public hospital, to address the issue of women in the state having to pay thousands of dollars to travel to Victoria to access termination procedures.

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