Federal Election 2019: Labor’s childcare subsidy promise won’t be expanded

Bill Shorten has ruled out extending Labor’s wage subsidies for childcare workers to other female-dominated industries.

Asked whether subsidising other private sector wages posed a risk to his promised budget surplus, the Federal Opposition leader suggested that Labor would go down “different paths” to get wages moving for other low-paid professions.

“The solution we’re using for early childhood is unique to early childhood,” Mr Shorten told ABC’s Insiders program this morning.

“We’ve got to keep the talented people in this profession, but the problem is we can’t ask parents to pay more money, and we shouldn’t.”

The promise to increase the wages of Early Childcare Education and Care workers by 20 per cent over eight years is part of the ALP’s $4 billion plan to cut the cost of childcare and take pressure off primary carers.

According to Labor’s costings, the average childcare worker would get a salary boost of about $1760 in 2021-22, or $34 a week – an increase of about 4.3 per cent.

But they would not see the $2 billion in promised pay rises for at least two years.

Aged-care providers have demanded to know why their workers have been left out of the plan to address low wages in female-dominated industries, with the Council on the Ageing calling on Mr Shorten to make aged care “the next cab off the rank”.

Mr Shorten was also quizzed by Insiders host Barrie Cassidy about whether his promised review of the adequacy of the dole could shave billions of dollars off a future surplus bottom line.

He said Labor would wait to see the outcome of the review, suggesting it could find that a simple increase to the Newstart Allowance was not the best way forward.

“We want to see exactly what is the best way to deliver unemployment support to encourage people back into work,” Mr Shorten said.

“I’m not going to pre-empt that.

“So we are going to be champions for people who are not sharing the Australian dream, but when we come to an outcome, that will be contingent also on how we’re going with the employment programs.”

On Labor’s negative gearing changes, Mr Shorten said the impact on house prices would be “minimal”.

“What our experts say – and it’s not just the think tanks that talk to us, but even New South Wales Treasury, what they’re all saying is that our changes, in the future prospectively, will have a minimal impact on house prices,” he said.

“Treasury said, in the turnover of houses, it would have an impact between 0.3 per cent and 1 per cent. That passes the minimal test.”

Mr Shorten is on the hustings in north-west Melbourne today, addressing the Labor faithful at a campaign rally in his own electorate of Maribyrnong.

The Labor leader, who celebrates his 52nd birthday today, holds the safe Labor seat by a margin of 10.4 per cent.

Earlier, he ran the 4km course in the Mother’s Day Classic in just under 20 minutes.