Sky News host Amanda Stoker says it’s time to have a “hard conversation as a nation” about the ways the childcare system is “failing everyone” as the policy of higher subsidies “isn’t working”.
“Ask any parent who uses it, and they’ll tell you that as soon as the public subsidy goes up, so too do the centre’s fees,” she said.
Ms Stoker said the current childcare system “doesn’t suit” shift workers, aspirational professionals and businesswomen whose working hours don’t fit the 8am-6pm model.
“Women’s economic participation has never been higher – but our birth rate is low, and we aren’t making it easy for working people to make a family, or a larger family, part of their story.
“And yet we know that children are something most women still want at some point – they just have less confidence than ever that they can juggle enough to make it work.
“As the economists says, there are three factors that will determine this nation’s future – participation, population and productivity. This issue touches all three – as well as the meaning and quality of life of women in this country.”
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Justin