The Guardian 28 February, 2007
Invest in the future — fund childcare
Last week two contradictory pieces of information about childcare emerged: the private for-profit ABC Learning Centres announced a 62 percent increase in first-half net profit, while childcare fees have risen by 22 percent in the last 10 years — the life of the Howard Government.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also reveal that out-of-pocket childcare costs from family budgets have increased by 82.5 percent in last five years, a bigger increase than the price of petrol and fruit
ABC Learning Centres’ profit for the six months to December 31 was $62 million, a large chunk of that funded by Australian taxpayers through government subsidies. The anti-union ABC Learning monopoly now has 1,465 childcare centres in Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK and aims at having 2,306 by the end of this financial year.
Meanwhile, waiting lists for childcare places are getting longer and the quality of care is being compromised through lack of government funding and staff shortages.
A survey by consumer advocate Choice magazine last year found that many parents said looking for childcare was a "nightmare". Some said they felt compelled to take whatever they could get and some said the cost of childcare cancelled out the economic value of returning to work altogether.
Problems parents faced once they had managed to get a place for their child or children included: the high cost; high staff turnover; too few staff, with too many children being looked after at once; having to fundraise for the centre; unsuitable opening and closing times; old premises.
The survey found that while commercially run centres can mushroom as long as private investment is available to fund them, the choice of childcare will not increase unless the government puts greater direct investment into capital costs for more community/not-for-profit centres.
Also, that quality of care will not improve until childcare workers are paid better, with incentives to stay in the industry and reduce its high staff turnover.
With many parents already struggling with the high cost of childcare, simply charging more for it to fund these changes will not work.
Choice’s survey respondents were in no doubt that it is a government responsibility to put more funding into childcare to help fix the problems and that guaranteeing childcare quality and availability is an investment in the future of the country.