Childcare fees Brisbane: Worst suburbs for hikes
Not only have childcare fees resumed after the COVID-19 relief, but new figures have revealed just how tough some parents are now doing it.
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Childcare fees spiked up to 14 per cent in Brisbane last year, with large increases recorded across the city, according to new figures.
Education Department data shows fee increases in the year to December 2019 vastly outstripped rises in childcare subsidies, which are linked to inflation and rose by just 1.8 per cent.
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The largest jump in prices was recorded around Strathpine, north of Brisbane, where fees soared 14 per cent in a year.
Other major hikes on the northside were around Nundah (8 per cent) and Sandgate (7 per cent).
On Brisbane’s bayside, parents paying for child care near Capalaba (11 per cent) and Wynnum (7 per cent) faced steep hikes.
Opposition early education spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said spiralling costs would force many families to give up paid child care.
“This data shows that before the pandemic, out-of-pocket childcare costs were taking a huge chunk out of household budgets,” she said.
“This snapback to high childcare fees in the middle of a recession will leave Brisbane families struggling to get by.”
Average hourly rates for child care in most of Brisbane’s middle and outer-ring suburbs were below the national average of $9.95.
But parents living around Nathan on the southside paid the highest fees in the state of $11.48 an hour, following a 12 per cent jump in the past year.
Average prices across the inner city suburbs were all well above the national average.
Bellmere resident and mother of two Mya Farley said childcare fees were too expensive.
“I find them ridiculous, they’re way too steep,” she said.
“I’ve lost my job and to afford them at the moment is way difficult.
“But you just have to do it.
“I just don’t get it, especially when it’s a necessity for so many families.”
The Federal Government’s emergency free childcare package ended this week, meaning parents have started paying fees again.
But Education Minister Dan Tehan said a series of transition measures, including capping fees at pre-COVID levels, were in place to help families.
“Our transition package is designed to support services to remain viable while they provide care to children as we ease restrictions in most states and territories and get more people back to work,” he said.
“Stopping fee increases and relaxing the activity test during the transition will relieve financial pressure on families that have been impacted by COVID-19.”
Mr Tehan said nearly three-quarters per cent of parents paid less than $5 an hour for child care in the December quarter of 2019.