Concerns $1.7b childcare subsidy package will make system ‘more complex’

Early Childhood Education Australia CEO Samantha Page says while the sector welcomed the $1.7 billion subsidy announcement yesterday she was concerned about it making the childcare system more complex than it already is. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Sunday unveiled a boost for eligible Australian families as part of a plan to encourage mothers back into the workforce. “The additional investment helps to lift Australia back up towards international standards on spending in early education,” Ms Page said. She told Sky News, however, the childcare system was already quite complex and the announcement “adds to that complexity”. Under the plan, the subsidy would apply to every second and subsequent child in care per family. “It means that different children in the family are on different rates of subsidy, so it doesn’t increase the subsidy for the first child,” she said. Ms Page also said the sector “desperately” needed investment in the workforce. “We need to pay professional wages to early childhood educators and teachers and address the pay parity issue between teachers in early childhood settings and teachers in schools.”

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