The Productivity Commission report on childcare released today

A KEY report on the future of childcare recommends a revolution that will affect all Aussie families - and it could be key to the survival of the government.

PM Tony Abbott

IT’S a version of the nanny state Tony Abbott once thundered against but which in 2015 could be crucial to the political survival of his government.

The Productivity Commission report on childcare released today is the platform from which the Government can address a critical economic and social issue, and tell voters it is heeding their calls for help.

The trick now will be for business to be convinced it is in its best interests pay for the Abbott nannies and related measures while allowing the Government to take all the credit.

The Prime Minister, several manifestations ago, was against women leaving their children behind to go work These days he is a champion of working mothers, to the extent of considering the option of child care being performed by publicly subsidised nannies in the home.

But for most households the chief option will be supervision of their little ones at a child care centre.

Child care is a constant concern in the suburbs of ordinary Australians and a $7 billion investment installed by Labor governments hasn’t solved severe problems of cost and availability.

In many cases almost all the wages of one parent — usually the mother — are needed to cover the costs of quality care for a child.

If the Abbott government can deliver significant relief for the many families with two working parents it will have done much to repair the political damage caused by the Budget last May. These parents are among the voters telling pollsters they are unimpressed with what the Government is doing to their household expenses.

But this will cost even more. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison today said a restructured childcare system of direct subsidies to centres could be funded by savings measures rejected by the Senate.

However, the Government is expected to proceed with a 1.5 per cent levy on the taxable income of big business — liable to be called the nanny tax — which was to have funded the Prime Minister’s abandoned paid parental leave.

It has been telling business that keeping women in the workforce ensures retention of valuable skill and experience which would boost their profits, and we will be hearing more of that argument.

Today the Government will deal with both ends of the heavily subsidised journey of life — from child care to retirement.

Social Services Minister Morrison is responding to the child care report and Treasurer Joe Hockey is casting forward to the intergenerational report on the growing aged population.

The point of connection is that having more women in the workforce would help pay for the increasing number of retirees.

Originally published as The Productivity Commission report on childcare released today