Logan parents hit with 6% hike in childcare costs
Some of the state’s poorest families have been hit with rising childcare costs of up to 6.9 per cent, federal data today reveals.
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Some of the state’s poorest families have been hit with rising childcare costs of up to 6.9 per cent compared to a year ago, the most recent federal data released reveals.
And, Logan parents are forking out more for childcare compared to the national average, figures from the federal Department of Education for March show.
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Childcare costs for parents in the Logan-Beaudesert region, which covers some of the poorest suburbs in the state, outpaced national fee hikes, the data suggests.
Nationally, the hike from March 2019 to March this year was 4.5 per cent but in Logan, some parents have experienced rises in costs of up to 6.9 per cent.
The figures show families in the Logan area paying, on average, 6.2 per cent more for child care at an average of $8.90 an hour compared to a year ago.
Costs in Beenleigh, Browns Plains, Springwood, Jimboomba and Loganlea all rose from March 2019 to March this year.
In Beenleigh, the March average hourly fee rose to $9.31, from $8.74 in March 2019.
It was up 6.9 per cent in Browns Plains to an average $9.09 an hour after parents were paying $8.50 on average an hour in March 2019.
In Jimboomba, parents copped a 4.5 per cent rise to $8.59 on average an hour up from $8.22.
Springwood parents experienced a 6.6 per cent rise with their costs up to $8.69 from $8.15 in 2019.
Labor MP Jim Chalmers, whose Rankin electorate takes in parts of Logan, said the national average increase in childcare costs was 4.5 per cent, in “stark contrast” to general inflation on a basket of goods and services of 2.2 per cent for the March quarter this year compared to the March quarter last year.
“These figures show the Child Care Subsidy support, which is indexed to inflation, is failing to keep up with out-of-control fee increases,” he said.
“Many families I speak to are increasingly concerned that childcare fees, a burden even before the virus outbreak, will become totally unaffordable as the effects of the recession continue in our community.”
The Shadow Treasurer said Labor had developed a new scheme which would help 97 per cent of families save between $600 and $2900 every year.
But Forde MP Bert van Manen said federal government subsidies meant to the majority of parents only incurred $5 an hour of out-of-pocket expenses.
“Since the introduction of the Child Care Subsidy out-of-pocket costs for families are down 3.2 per cent,” Mr van Manen said.
“Families pay taxes and under Labor’s plan, a family living in Beenleigh earning $80,000 a year will be subsidising the child care fees of a family in Sydney earning $360,000 a year.
“Labor’s plan to subsidise the wages of child care workers will cost taxpayers $10 billion over the decade and the Coalition will not be adopting this policy.”