The centre for policy development has recommended three days of free childcare for some families with a small fee for others. A report from the centre argues childcare should be seen in the same light as public education and Medicare.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well, this report is all about different ways to make early childhood care more accessible
00:06and affordable for families across Australia, and the main recommendation is to change how
00:11much families have to pay.
00:13What it's suggested is that there should be three days of free care for disadvantaged
00:19households.
00:20That's any household with a combined income of $80,000 or less.
00:25For families earning more than that, the suggestion is that they would pay just $30 for three
00:30days of care.
00:31If they want their child in care for longer, it would be 15 days for those subsequent days.
00:37Now going on from that, preschool-wise, that's when a kid turns three and four, every single
00:42household would have access to a child for two days of free preschool, followed by a
00:48third day that would cost just $10.
00:51Now the reason behind this is not just being argued by the Centre for Policy Development,
00:57but it's been argued for a long time by a lot of different groups, whether it's actually
01:00business groups, economists, parents groups, and those interested in this sector.
01:05They say that the benefits are numerous.
01:08One of them is that it's really important for children to access some level of education
01:12and care before they go to school, because it's a chance for people to pick up, as in
01:17educators, to pick up on any learning difficulties children may have.
01:22Aside from that as well, it means that it could encourage more parents back into the
01:26workforce sooner, and therefore that means that's more tax revenue for the government.
01:32The cost of this proposal, Lorna, is around $7 billion a year, and the CEO of the Centre
01:38for Policy Development says that's money well spent, because most of it, the government
01:43will get back.
01:46We're already spending $15 billion a year on a system that doesn't work.
01:50The Productivity Commission has found that our model would cost an additional $7 billion,
01:54but we know actually that it would pay for itself, due to increases to GDP and to tax
01:59revenue, to decrease to health costs, crime costs, and others associated with the universal
02:05early childhood system.
02:06So we estimate that pretty much every dollar the government spends on this will make two.
02:11So this is a classic win-win.
02:13It makes good economic sense, it makes good health sense, it makes good education sense.
02:17It's good for women, it's good for families.
02:20It's interesting isn't it, because the government's currently looking at universal childcare as
02:24an option.
02:25So what has it had to say about it?
02:27Yeah, so it was at the last election, Lorna, when Labor made this promise to aim towards
02:32universal childcare, specifically it was a 90% subsidy, so most families will still be
02:37paying a little bit, but not much at all.
02:40In terms of where it's at, what the government's doing, it's launched a series of reviews into
02:44the sector, it's asking experts for their opinions, there's a Productivity Commission
02:49draft report that was released late last year suggesting yes, there should be three days
02:53of free childcare for families earning that combined income of $80,000 or less.
02:59The draft report though didn't talk about what should happen for those remaining families.
03:04And the final report is actually coming out at the end of this month.
03:07It gets given to government first, so we as the public might not see it for a while still.
03:12So at the moment, yes, the government's very much looking into this space, but doesn't
03:17have a policy per se about how it would implement it just yet.
03:21Let's take a listen to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
03:25I note the report today that is a positive contribution to the policy debate.
03:31We will await the Productivity Commission report, but I have said on repeated occasions
03:37I think that universal childcare provision, as it is in a range of other countries, is
03:44something that is a valued national asset.
03:47Early education is good for children, it's good for families, but it's also good for our economy.
03:55So at this stage, Lorna, there's no timeline on when the government would make changes.
04:00Experts say any major overhaul to the system would take at least a decade to implement.
04:05The opposition hasn't made its position known on universal access to childcare.
04:11So at this stage, it's only a Labor government that's pushing ahead with that.
04:16And just finally as well, there are huge questions around the workforce.
04:19This is a sector that already has staff shortages.
04:22The question is how you find those extra workers, because obviously there would be
04:26more of a demand for childcare services if it's more affordable for families.