One of the country's biggest childcare providers has been accused of trying to rip off parents by announcing "deeply suspicious" fee hikes earlier this week.
Notice of the increased fees came just 24 hours after Bill Shorten promised $4 billion to boost government subsidies for early education if Labor is elected.
G8 Education on Monday emailed families advising them of a fee rise from May 13 of between 3.8 and 4.5 per cent.
The fee hikes are due to take effect five days before the federal election.
"We wanted to assure our families that any change to prices was irrespective of the election outcome," a spokeswoman for G8 Education told the West Australian on Wednesday.
"The fee review represents the lowest increase over the past three years."
The spokeswoman said the G8 board signed off on the fee hikes on April 17 and were not influenced by the Labor childcare announcement.
But Labor's early education spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said the fee hike was "a slap in the face" to families who would not have been budgeting for the increase.
