Parents with young kids are in for a boost – with cash set aside to make early childhood education cheaper and more widely available.

From next March - two-year-olds will be eligible for 20 hours’ free childcare, expanding the policy currently covering those between the ages of three and five.

An extra $322 million’s also going towards ECE services to help teachers move towards pay parity with their kindergarten counterparts.

On top of that – there’s a five percent subsidy increase for the likes of playcentres and kohanga reo, an extension to the free school lunches programmes to the end of 2024, and more than 41 million towards alternative education over five years.