Greens candidate Mandy Nolans promises free childcare, DV support

In the run up to the election, local candidate Mandy Nolan tells us her plans for free childcare and closing the gender gap.

Still looking for a Mother‘s Day gift? Free childcare and fully funded domestic violence services could be the answer according to Greens Richmond candidate Mandy Nolan.

If voted in, The Greens candidate claims she would make early childhood education and care free and universal.

This would include investing $19 billion over the forward estimates to ensure childcare is free and accessible for everyone and extend universal access for all three and four years old to 24 hours a week.

In the lead up to Mother’s Day, Ms Nolan believed it was an “important first step” in fixing the gender pay gap.

Greens candidate for Richmond, Mandy Nolan and Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt speak to media during a doorstop at Parliament House on March 29, 2022 in Canberra, Australia. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

“I always say there is no greater gift that you can give to women than free childcare,” she said.

“With our region we do have a lot of women working in education as teachers, a lot of women working as nurses in the health sector and of course hospitality and retail.

“A lot of those jobs already are paid down the pay scale a lot less and one of the big imposts to that is the cost of childcare.”

Ms Nolan said the average four person household with two full-time parents and two kids under five could be paying about $40,000 a year, with rebates, on childcare.

“If you’ve saving for a house, or even just trying to get by on some of the massive rent costs up here, that can make such a dent in your income,” Ms Nolan said.

“It’s the difference between having housing security, it the difference between having superannuation when you retire.”

Author, writer and comedian Mandy Nolan is the Greens candidate for the seat of Richmond.

Ms Nolan told of a woman she met living on the North Coast who after returning to the beauty industry made $50 a week, which she then put into fuel costs, after paying for childcare.

And Ms Nolan too knew first-hand the outcome if the measures childcare costs remained the same.

As a mum of five, she said she had often forked out “tens of thousands” a year on childcare, many of which such as babysitters couldn’t be subsidised.

“It put a lot of pressure on me on what I had to achieve in my own business to make it viable,” she said.

Ms Nolan a former comedian would sometimes take her kids to work when she did stand up comedy.

“ I would take them backstage, get another comedian to hold the baby while I went onstage and did my show.

“People would go ‘that’s amazing’ but it’s actually really stressful when all you can hear is the baby cry.”

'No government has done more to support Australia's women,' says Anne Ruston

— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) May 4, 2022

It comes as major parties bolster their efforts towards women prior to the Federal Election.

Labour announced on Wednesday a $7.8 million boost to WA’s domestic violence housing.

Liberal Women’s Safety Minister Anne Ruston said that same day that “‘no government has done more for women” than the Morrison Government.

It was a claim that shocked Ms Nolan, as she noted the sexual assault allegations that plagued the Morrison Government.

“Within government we have seen a toxic culture that makes Parliament House one of the most dangerous workplaces in Australia,” she said.

“And my view is, if you can’t control the sexual culture and create a safe workplace in your workplace you cannot provide that for women in the country.”

She called budget funding allocations towards endometritis and breast cancer medication on the PBS a “bribe” she hoped women wouldn’t fall for.

“It was an attempt to have a showbag to reach out for women when the meaningful work they could have done should have been done in the way they held their minster's and staffers to account,” she said.

Mandy Nolan has been a longtime supporter of women’s right, seen here at the March 4 Justice event in Mullumbimby on March 15, 2021. Picture: Liana Boss

And as Australia reports its 18th fatality from domestic violence this year alone, Ms Nolan said services like the Ballina Women and Childrens Refuge were left desperately “underfunded”.

She said The Greens would pledge full funding to domestic violence services and programs that support safety- made possible by taxing large corporations and billionaires.

“I would say every week a woman dies and very often you don’t even hear her name,” Ms Nolan said.

“Domestic violence and death in domestic violence is murder and it’s gendered violence that needs to be addressed through our culture, through better support in schools, through options for women with housing, through mental health support services under Medicare that are free and accessible.”