FAMILIES HIT WITH RISING CHILD CARE COSTS YET NO MORE ACCESS

One year on from the Albanese Government’s misleading ‘Cheaper Child care’ policy came into play, Australian families are still struggling to pay for child care and many regional families see no improvement to access.

Despite Labor promising cheaper child care, out of pocket costs are higher now than when Labor took Government in 2022, increasing by 7.2 per cent in the last six months.

And, on top of the rising cost of child care, too many families across Barker have either no access to early learning or are languishing on long and growing wait lists.

On average, across Barker, there are 4.3 children for every childcare place available.

What good is it to anyone to promise cheaper child care, if people can’t access it anyway?

I, together with my Coalition colleagues, want to see more support delivered to ensure equal access of education and care for families regardless of their postcode.

Rising childcare fees are another cost-of-living pressure that families are battling, with rises in electricity, up 21.5%; gas, up 22.2%; food, up 11.4% and many other bills skyrocketing.

Last year thousands of families watched their childcare subsidy increase eaten up by higher fees in July 2023 and now they’ve been whacked with another fee increase this July.

I’ve seen reports of centers increasing fees by up to $30 a day which is unsustainable for most families.