Families facing “mind-boggling” school and childcare fees hoping for relief. Promises to address childcare shortage need to become reality, parents say. The “big change” to childcare was a dud. Parents and teachers deserve better.
All sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But these aren’t headlines about Britain. They’re about Australia, where childcare is taking centre stage in the Australian federal election. As in Britain, childcare is a key cost of living issue for working families in Australia, with fees up more than 40 per cent under the coalition government.
In our own country, it’s clear that people are increasingly being priced out of parenting. A recent survey by Pregnant Then Screwed showed that more than three quarters of women who do not have children say that childcare costs are either a factor in why they don’t have children, or the main reason they don’t have children.
