3 Day Guarantee for early learning begins today

From today, Australian children are eligible for three days of subsidised early education and care each week under the Albanese Labor Government’s 3 Day Guarantee.

This is good for families and good for children. It is one of several cost-of-living initiatives coming into effect in 2026.

The 3 Day Guarantee replaces the Coalition’s punitive Activity Test. Previously, children who needed early learning the most were blocked from the system because of their parents’ work or study activity.

Under Labor’s new 3 Day Guarantee, every child who needs it is eligible for three days of subsidised early learning each week, no matter what their parents do.

All children have a right to go to school no matter what their parents do, and now all children will also have guaranteed access to three days a week of subsidised care.

This change means 100,000 more families are eligible for three days of subsidised early learning.

We also know thousands of families were locked out of early learning because of the Activity Test and never engaged in the system because they couldn’t afford it.

The doors to early learning are now open to these families thanks to our 3 Day Guarantee.

We are investing around $430 million over four years to deliver the 3 Day Guarantee.

The Albanese Government is also investing $1 billion through the Building Early Education Fund to build or expand early learning services in areas of need, including in outer suburban and regional areas.

This is the next step in creating a quality universal early childhood education and care system. 

Other measures we are rolling out this month to help Australian families include:

• Cheaper medicines, with medicines on the PBS now costing no more than $25, the lowest price since 2004.
• Free health advice through 1800MEDICARE, providing 24/7 advice and referrals by registered nurses and GPs.
• A cash acceptance mandate, to ensure that Australians can pay cash in most fuel and grocery retailers for purchases below $500. 

We are also delivering the next round of indexation for a range of social security payments, including: 

• Increases to Youth Allowance, Austudy, and ABSTUDY.
• Increases to payments that support vulnerable Australians and their carers, including the Youth Disability Support Pension and Carer Allowance.  

These responsible and practical measures go hand in hand with the relief we have already been delivering, like: 

• Tax cuts to every taxpayer, with another round to be delivered later this year and again next year.
• Cutting student debt by 20 per cent for 3 million people, around $5,500 on average.
• Tripling the bulk billing incentive to make it easier & cheaper to see a doctor.
• Freezing the cost of PBS medicines for pensioners and concession card holders at $7.70.
• More free Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, ensuring medical care is available when you need it.
• Supporting increases in National Minimum Wage and award wages by 3.5 per cent on 1 July 2025, meaning the minimum wage is around $175 a week or $9,120 a year higher since Labor came to office.
• Delivering four pay rises for aged care workers, bringing the total increase to aged care staff’s salaries to over $28,000 a year since we came to office.
• Increasing the minimum superannuation contribution for employers to 12 per cent.
• Increasing Paid Parental Leave (PPL) to 24 weeks and paying super on all government PPL.
• Generous subsidies on home batteries.
• Increasing the threshold to begin repaying student debt loans to $67,000, up from around $54,000 under the Coalition.
• Incentive payments of $10,000 for tradies who take up apprenticeships in housing construction.
• Paying students who are doing prac placements in nursing, midwifery, teaching, and social work.  

Quotes attributable to Treasurer Jim Chalmers:

“The 3 Day Guarantee is an investment in our country’s future and will provide working families with more choice immediately.

“Whether it's cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, or increased payments for students and carers, we are delivering more help for those who need it most from the start of 2026.

“We promised the Australian people we would deliver on the commitments we took to the election, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

“All of this is possible because of the progress we have made to get the Budget in better shape, finding savings and cutting wasteful spending, and paying down the Liberal debt so we are able to invest in the things that matter most."

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:

“This is a guarantee of three days a week access to subsidised early education and care for the children who need it the most.

“No one blinks when you say every child has a right to go to school and government has a responsibility to help fund it.

“The same has got to be true today for early education and that’s what this is about.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education Jess Walsh:

“Every child deserves access to quality early learning – no matter their postcode, or what their parents do for work.

“Too many children have been locked out of quality early education and care because of their parents’ work or study activity.

“I’m so proud that that’s about to change with the introduction of the Albanese Labor Government’s 3 Day Guarantee.”