Senator Matt O’Sullivan
Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning
Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence
Deputy Manager of Opposition Business
Senator for Western Australia
Media Release
2 September 2026
The Albanese Government has been caught recycling previously committed funding as a rescue package to prop up Australia’s struggling In Home Care Sector.
After months of warnings that this critical part of Australia’s childcare system was on the brink of collapse, Labor has announced an approximately $11 million package, but $8.4 million of that funding had already been announced.
The $5 million Sustainability Support Grant was announced three months ago, while the $3.4 million for wage increases comes from Labor’s existing Worker Retention Payment extension, announced in June this year.
That means only $2.6 million of Labor’s $11 million rescue package appears to be new funding.
In May, the Australian Home Childcare Association estimated it would cost around $6.3 million each year to extend wage support across the entire In Home Care sector. However, Labor only allocated $3.4 million under its latest Worker Retention Payment arrangements extending to June 2028.
Around 70 per cent of In Home Care educators are independent contractors and remain ineligible for the payment under Labor’s rules.
Which raises serious questions about whether the Government has budgeted on the basis that the majority of the In Home Care workforce will remain locked out of the payment.
This is particularly concerning given the Senate inquiry into the Worker Retention Payment Bill 2026 is due to report shortly.
Coalition Senators will have additional comments on how the payment could be made fairer for both the In Home Care and family day care sectors, where employment models are fundamentally different to centre-based care.
The Government should explain why it has announced a so-called rescue package that recycles previously announced funding and appears to have predetermined the level of support available to In Home Care sector before the Senate inquiry has reported its recommendations.
Families who rely on In Home Care and the educators who provide it deserve better than recycled announcements and a funding model that leaves much of the workforce behind.
[ENDS]