A mum-of-three’s hopes have been dashed for support in the federal budget as she forks out $450 a day to send her little ones to childcare.
During the 7NEWS federal budget special, Melbourne mum of a toddler and twins Olivia Gallo asked whether there were any measures to reduce the cost of childcare.
“A lot of what I’ve been hearing is that this is a budget for young people. I am a young person … I’ve got a toddler and we’ve just had twins, one of our biggest expenses and stresses is childcare,” she said.
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“Childcare centres charge you $150 per day per child so that’s $450 a day for us.
“Will any of the savings or revenue raising measures in this budget go towards Albo’s dream of universal childcare?”
Experts Dr Aruna Sathanapally, CEO of thinktank the Grattan Institute, and James Wrigley, financial adviser, sadly dashed the mum-of-three’s hopes for relief as the budget did not contain any specific childcare measures.
“There’s nothing in the budget specifically for expanding childcare support. Earlier this year, there was some expansion to allow different people with different income levels some more support for childcare,” Wrigley said.
“But there’s nothing specific in the budget for people that are dealing with the expensive cost of childcare at the moment.”
Sathanapally added that it was a “big miss” in the budget.
“They did announce in the lead up to the budget that they would stand up an early childhood commission, that is an important step to universal childcare,” she said.
“One of the things we don’t do in Australia is provide childcare through government services or pay providers to provide it in particular areas.
“We really give people money to go and use private childcare services.
“If we’re going to change that, if we’re going to provide childcare such that it’s actually located where people need it to be, and it’s universally affordable, then we’re going to need a commission that can actually identify where we need it.
“It’s a first step.”
She said the budget’s fiscal position is improving which opens opportunities for further announcements down the line.
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