Childcare Concerns

Affordability has long been an issue, and while availability eased to some degree c.1998, it is also an issue now in 2026.

There is great concern about the direction in which childcare is heading. The loss of the operational subsidy as a result of Federal Government policy changes has had severe effects not only in the Illawarra but also across NSW and Australia. It is acknowledged that the issue is Federal and that the State Government have pressed their concerns in the recent Senate Inquiry. However there is an urgent need to address the issues listed below :

• all community based childcare services have increased their fees – with some having increased by as much as 60% over the last 3 years; low and middle income families have been left to struggle with fees that amount to approximately $10,000 pa (equivalent to private school fees at Scots College etc) unless they qualify for some form of significant fee relief
• this has led to children being withdrawn from centres or attending less days and vacancies have now occurred with a number of centres substantially reducing the number of licensed places offered, including baby places
• some parents have been able to make informal arrangements – but not all are able to do so
• NSW Minister for Community Services, Fay Lo Po and NSW L:ocal Government Association President Peter Woods are aware of the desperate situation facing families and how some have left their kids at libraries instead of care ( Sunday Telegraph April 26 1998); this has led to libraries at Baulkham Hills, Parramatta and Willoughby developing formal policies to deal with the problem
• annecdotal evidence suggests that some parents in the Illawarra have at times placed their children in creches attached to gyms and clubs when they could no longer afford the fee increases
• the quality of care is being placed at risk because of the strategies needed to cut costs – including effects on nutrition level of food and snacks; equipment
• services are worried about their long term viability
• centres are reducing their staffing levels and/or replacing trained staff with untrained staff or less trained staff, as well as introducing strategies such as part time and job share

Private childcare centres are also suffering from similar effects – with most operating at about 70% capacity, but needing to be at 85-90% to break even (Judith Atkinson, president of Federation of Childcare Associations – quoted in Sydney Morning Herald May 14 1998).

The situation can best be summarised by Adele Horin’s comments (Sydney Morning Herald April 25 1998)…..
“The Federal Government has been in a state of denial over the crisis in child care. Parents are saying they can’t afford child care anymore, mothers are leaving the workforce, centres are closing, workers are losing their jobs.

Over 25 years Australia has built up an enviable child-care infrastructure that is now in danger of unravelling because families cannot afford to use it.

We have the buildings, the trained staff, the accreditation system. We have a sensible mixture of private and non-profit centres. We have just about enough child-care places in most parts of Australia. For two decades parents have beaten down the doors to get in. Now they are exiting or staying away.

Many private centres are half-empty and hundreds of small business people – the Government’s key constituency – face insolvency.
…
It’s not an oversupply problem. It’s an affordability problem. “