The cost of caring for children

Rachel Hill, a Sydney mother of two, increased her work from two days to full-time to cover rising costs.

“We went from paying around $175 a week for four days of care … to now paying $536 a week for five days”

Childcare costs affect family size

Hill says her husband wanted a bigger family, but the cost of childcare made it impossible. She says financially it just was not ever going to work for them.

“If our circumstances were different I might have had more reason to pursue more children, but financially it just wasn't ever going to work for us.”

Albanese's legacy ambition

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants universal childcare to be his political legacy, alongside Medicare and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. He says it should be as natural as public school.

“as natural as public school”

Abuse allegations damage trust

The childcare sector has been rocked by widespread allegations of child abuse and safety breaches. This has damaged public trust and forced the government to tighten standards.

Australia's population crisis

The two thousand twenty six intergenerational report, released last month, showed deaths would outnumber births in Australia by the twenty sixties. Labor says universal childcare is key to making that happen.

What universal childcare means

The government defines universal childcare as care that is available, quality and affordable.Overseas examples include Canadian provinces offering ten dollars a day capped care, or Estonia with fees capped at low weekly or monthly rates.

Deloitte mapping the challenge

The government commissioned Deloitte to set out the cost of delivering childcare services across metropolitan, outer suburban, regional and remote areas.Deloitte is due to hand the report to government by the end of the year.

Building not-for-profit centres

The government announced seventeen point three million dollars split between three not-for-profit providers to build four childcare centres in outer metropolitan and regional areas.

For-profit sector in trouble

In August, for-profit provider Edge Early Learning went into administration.Competitor G eight has closed dozens of under-enrolled centres.

Current subsidy structure

A family with one child and household income up to eighty eight thousand five hundred twenty dollars receives a government subsidy covering ninety percent of childcare fees.

Fees rising faster than inflation

Labor has raised subsidies since coming to power in two thousand twenty two. But childcare fees jumped seven point three percent in the twelve months to August, more than twice the inflation rate.

Subsidy costs exploding

The childcare subsidy was projected to cost the budget about sixteen point two billion dollars last financial year and is slated to rise to eighteen point four billion dollars by two thousand twenty eight twenty…

Election battleground looming

Childcare is likely to become a key election battleground, with Labor, the Coalition, One Nation and the Greens all clashing over how to best provide it.