Parents who are working through the COVID-19 crisis will receive free childcare under a $1.6 billion federal government plan to keep children in care.

Speaking with Money News host Brooke Corte, Education Minister Dan Tehan said the plan aims to keep parents at work and childcare workers in the job.

“We want to provide certainty for the sector… and at the same time, make sure those who need to work, and need their children cared for while they’re working, have the ability to send their children to the centre they’ve been sending their child to,”

The childcare sector was on the brink of collapse as parents suddenly withdrew their children from care in extraordinary numbers, in an abundance of caution and to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Minister Tehan says the new scheme has redesigned the way the sector will be funded by the government, effective midnight on Sunday.

“We think we’ve come up with a system which will enable the system to have the economic viability to get it through the next six months,” he said.

Click PLAY to hear more from Education Minister Dan Tehan: