A new bill proposed on Wednesday at Parliament House could see the cost of childcare capped at $10 a day for three days a week.
The Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign, led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill, has proposed for universal access to early childhood services for Australians, an essential service that most families in Australia struggle to afford.
Weatherill called on the federal government to “simplify” access to early childhood education for all Australian families.
“For too long, the early childhood education and development system has been too complex, too expensive and has fundamentally failed the needs of modern families,” Weatherill said.
“Let’s simplify support in the early years – every Australian parent should not pay more than $10 a day for three days a week of quality early childhood education and care.”
What a powerful line-up of advocates for early learning reform!
— Jay Weatherill (@JayWeatherill) November 15, 2023
Today at Federal Parliament we officially launched a push for a new law that says every child should be given the best chance to thrive by five. pic.twitter.com/FUZ0OA1QyU
The government’s Services Australia currently offers a Child Care Subsidy, which families can apply for to access assistance in paying for early childhood education.
However, according to Care for Kids, if a family is ineligible for the government’s subsidy, it can cost up to $200 a day for one child in a centre.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) conducted an inquiry into child care, which found the average Australian family with two children under 3 years old spent around 16 per cent of its net household salary on childcare. This was well above the OECD average of 9 per cent.
Weatherill said the $10 a day, three days a week guarantee under the proposal could be a game-changer.
“A $10 a day childcare guarantee would underpin the development of children, returns money to parent’s wallets and supports greater workforce participation and economic growth,” he said.
The bill has four key components: universal and free access to maternal and child health care,; high-quality, universally accessible early childhood education and care; two years of preschool in the years before school; and more enerous paid parental leave with better flexibility.
“The Thrive by Five Early Childhood Guarantee could go a long way towards delivering on the goal of making Australia one of the best places in the world to raise children and help address ongoing workforce shortages, including in the early learning sector itself,” Weatherill said.
Cost of living pressures on childcare
A survey of Australian parents, conducted by The Parenthood, showed alarming results of the impact high costs of child care has on families across the country.
The results found most families who don’t use centre-based care say one of the reasons is the high costs. In fact, just three in 10 parents who do send their kids to child care centres say it is easily manageable financially.
Around 60 per cent of parents said they or their partner would work different hours if childcare wasn’t as expensive as it is.
The majority of respondents (85 per cent) say the cost of living crisis means families have no choice but for both parents to work, and therefore, arrange care for their children.
The Parenthood’s interim CEO, Jessica Rudd, urged politicians to support the campaign.
“Australia should be the best place in the world to raise children, however we need ambitious reform of early learning to achieve this vision and make it reality,” Rudd said.
“We know the current early learning system does not deliver on the expectations of modern families and is not equitable, particularly falling short on meeting the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disability or low-income or single parent families.
“We need new ideas, new approaches and policy reform to achieve universal access to affordable and quality early learning and better support for children and families in the early years.”
The Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign found the $10 a day cap for three days a week, proposed in the bill, would allow 43 per cent of parents with children under six return to work sooner.
The bill would also assist almost half of parents (49 per cent) to take on extra shifts at work.
You can find out more about the Minderoo Foundation’s proposed bill here.