Labor and the Greens have called on the government to release the details of its childcare package which will see a tougher means test applied to high income families receiving taxpayer assistance for the costs of childcare.
The government will introduce legislation into Parliament later this week and has faced criticism that it has not provided any specific details about which families will be left better or worse off as a result of the changes.
"We're really concerned that the government is spending billions of dollars but they are actually going to make childcare less affordable for many families and they are actually going to drive some children out the sector altogether," Labor's education spokeswoman, Kate Ellis, said on Sunday.
The changes include lowering the childcare rebate to parents on combined incomes of $250,000 and increasing payments to families on low incomes.
However there will be a greater requirement that parents be either in the workforce or studying or volunteering before they qualify for the payments.
This has drawn criticism from the opposition, the Greens and childcare groups which argue children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the most to gain from early childhood education.
The government is yet to release any specific details about how families will be affected or how the childcare changes will work alongside the changes to family tax payments.
Ms Ellis said the government had not provided any assurance that vulnerable and disadvantaged children would be not be left worse off as a result of the changes.
The government on Sunday backed down over one particularly controversial plank of the package – the plan to subject grandparent carers to a work test.
The Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, said the government would spend $20 million to exempt the 3900 grandparents who are primary carers of children.
"A consistent message that came out of our consultations was that grandparent primary carers provide a vitally important role in our community, often stepping in to look after their grandchildren when these children have been through stressful and other adverse circumstances," Minister Birmingham said in a statement on Sunday.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she was concerned parents about to re-enter the workforce after the birth of a child would be penalised as a result of the tougher activity test.
"How many new mothers re-entering the workforce are going to be left short because of the government's activity test?" Senator Hanson-Young said.
