The Coalition understands this, and today’s announcement of an additional $89 million aimed at ensuring that families can access quality, accessible child care will be very welcome to the working families of the Farrer electorate, says Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley.

 

To improve access to affordable child care, and to help families meet their child care costs, the Coalition will reintroduce the indexation of the Child Care Rebate. The Child Care Rebate covers 50 per cent of out-of-pocket child care expenses for approved care, up to $7,500 per year.

 

For those parents receiving the maximum amount of Child Care Rebate, indexation of the payment will provide an additional $300 per year, for every child in care.

 

Many families are struggling and need help to meet the increased costs of living. The cost of child care is set to rise up to $22 more each day; reflecting the new COAG policy framework requirements, higher minimum wage and spiralling costs of living.

 

“Where affordable child care is not accessible, women (mostly) are forced to leave their jobs or shrink their hours at work. This is disastrous for the household budget and for the economy,” said Ms Ley.

 

The Coalition aims have the Child Care Rebate paid weekly and directly to child care providers.

 

“We hope that by doing this it will help families face smaller, less frequent out-of-pocket expenses, easing the pressure on family budgets. The Child Care Rebate is currently paid quarterly and in arrears to the family when an account is raised. This has been known to cause problems for parents, and has been subject to fraud. This proposed change will help with family budgeting, improve efficiency, and reduce red tape” said Ms Ley.

 

The Coalition has also committed to reintroducing the $12.6 million of Occasional Care funding, cut by the Rudd-Gillard Government at the last Federal budget.

 

“Occasional Care offers part-time places or emergency care when, for example, a parent needs to attend the doctor or meet some unforseen crisis.

 

“This type of day care has been suffering increased pressure for some time. In many cases parents have been on waiting lists for months to secure Occasional Care. This increase in funding will reduce this pressure and ease the waiting lists” said Ms Ley.

 

The Coalition will not proceed with Labor’s new National Rating system for child care and early childhood education services. There is no evidence that a rating or ranking system adds value for parents or accurately portrays the quality of care provided.

 

Approved child care is already accredited and monitored, and parents can access information, such as attendance data, on-line.

 

The Coalition supports high quality and standards for the child care sector.

 

“We have heard the concerns expressed by child care providers who believe that Labor has failed to adequately consult on the costs and workforce impacts of the new National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care. As a result, we will ensure wide industry consultation before proceeding with these significant reforms to the sector.

 

“The Colation’s commitment to child care reforms – a total of $89.2 million – will be provided from the nearly $24 billion in recurrent savings, identified by the Coalition over the forward estimates.

 

“These measures are in addition to the Coalition’s commitment to introduce a proper paid maternity leave system. The Coalition’s plan will provide mothers with six months paid leave at their full salary – providing real time and real money, at a time when families need it most.

 

“This is part of our broader package of support for families.”