Dutton’s cuts to childcare a bitter pill for women and families
April 23, 2025 ACTU.
The Coalition’s only plan for women is to remove access to affordable childcare by reintroducing the childcare activity test if elected.

This will result in parents throughout Australia losing guaranteed subsidised access to childcare and is a retrograde 1950s-style policy that would make life tougher for women.

Re-introducing the activity test shows that the Coalition has no idea that women need reliable access to childcare before they can be “active”.

The activity test, introduced by the Coalition in 2018, requires a parent or guardian to be in work, study or volunteering to qualify for childcare subsidies. In practice, it has acted as a perverse barrier to finding work, especially for women, and has been widely criticised, including by the Productivity Commission. 

The Albanese Government has committed to introducing 3 days of guaranteed childcare and removing the activity test, which would help to lift women’s participation in education and workforce participation, particularly in outer suburbs and in regional areas.

Research by Impact Economics in 2023 showed that removing the activity test would boost women’s employment and lift GDP by an estimated $4.5 billion a year.

This is on top of the Coalition committing to cancel free TAFE, which already has 40,000 students enrolled in courses on early childhood education and care. 

The Coalition’s policy released overnight would remove guaranteed access to 3 days a week of subsidised childcare for families, in another clear sign that Peter Dutton does not understand how modern families navigate caring for children and elderly parents, the jobs market, flexible work and taking on new skills and opportunities.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus:

“The Coalition’s only real policy for women so far is to take away guaranteed subsidised childcare from them.

“In addition, they are scrapping free TAFE, which is essential for workers in the early childhood sector. This decision will not only have a big financial impact on the care workforce, it will also make accessing childcare harder for all families, as centres will struggle to employ qualified workers.

“Bringing back the activity test for parents is poor policy and will hurt parents by cutting this important cost-of-living relief measure.

“The Coalition’s approach to taking this away will hurt thousands of women – because the reality is that women still shoulder most of the caregiving load while families seek more flexible work arrangements.

“Peter Dutton formerly owned three childcare centres. He wanted to keep those who work in them on extremely low pay as he opposed the long overdue pay rises for early educators, calling it ‘a sugar hit.’ Now he wants to stop childcare fee relief from reaching families.”

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2025 at 7:57am:


And you were going to leave this forum in 2016 when Trump won his first term.

He's been out and back in again - and you're still here.

That would be funny if it wasn't so pointed as to your inability to keep your word.

You should run for politics - you already have one of the major attributes required.

Bobby. wrote on Apr 24^th, 2025 at 4:13pm:


That assumes every female wants to be a housewife.