3 years ago
OUT OF POCKET CHILD CARE COSTS SET TO SOAR
AMANDA RISHWORTH MP
Documents from the Morrison Government’s own Education Department predict that child care fees will increase by 4.1 per cent every year for the next four years - substantially outstripping inflation which the Child Care Subsidy is pegged to. This is further evidence that out of pocket costs for families will be higher in the years to come.
On average parents will soon be no better off under Scott Morrison’s ‘once in a generation set of reforms’ than they were under the previous scheme which ended in July 2018.
The Liberals’ child care system is broken and out of pocket costs are increasing rapidly for families.
Child care fees have soared by 35.9 per cent since the election of the Liberal Government in 2013.
Parents need a real plan to tackle skyrocketing out of pocket child care costs - not the Liberals’ broken system that Scott Morrison continues to cling on to.
In contrast, an Albanese Labor Government will introduce the Cheaper Child Care for Working Families plan to cut child care fees and put more money into the pockets of working families, straight away.
Under this plan, Labor will:
On average parents will soon be no better off under Scott Morrison’s ‘once in a generation set of reforms’ than they were under the previous scheme which ended in July 2018.
The Liberals’ child care system is broken and out of pocket costs are increasing rapidly for families.
Child care fees have soared by 35.9 per cent since the election of the Liberal Government in 2013.
Parents need a real plan to tackle skyrocketing out of pocket child care costs - not the Liberals’ broken system that Scott Morrison continues to cling on to.
In contrast, an Albanese Labor Government will introduce the Cheaper Child Care for Working Families plan to cut child care fees and put more money into the pockets of working families, straight away.
Under this plan, Labor will:
- Scrap the $10,560 child care subsidy cap which often sees women losing money from an extra day’s work;
- Lift the maximum child care subsidy rate to 90 per cent; and
- Increase child care subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than $530,000.
Labor's plan will make child care more affordable for 97 per cent of families in the system, and remove financial barriers that disincentive second income earners, predominantly women, to work full time.
Importantly, Labor will keep working to fix Australia’s broken child care system, which currently locks out more than 100,000 families because they just can’t afford it.
The Productivity Commission will conduct a comprehensive review of the sector with the aim of implementing a universal 90 per cent subsidy for all families.
The ACCC will design a price regulation mechanism to shed light on costs and fees and drive them down for good. The ACCC will examine the relationship between funding, fees, profits and educators’ salaries.
Scott Morrison’s child care system has failed Australian families. It has failed to keep a lid on out of pocket costs, and it has failed to support working parents, particularly women, to work full time or increase their hours.
Labor will fix that.