Carina Garland: Chisholm Labor Federal Election candidate on childcare, cost of living

Labor’s Chisholm federal election candidate has passed the pub test for naming key cost of living figures. But what action is she promising locally if elected?

One of the main challengers for Victoria’s most marginal federal seat says locals are worried about the rising costs of childcare, and she wants to be part of a new government to ease the pain.

Labor’s Chisholm candidate Carina Garland gave her thoughts on local childcare costs as she attended an event by the Thrive For Five campaign at Box Hill’s Goodlife childcare centre on Tuesday.

The campaign, led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and an initiative of the Minderoo Foundation, is pushing for a higher quality and more accessible childcare system.

Minderoo Foundation co-chair Nicola Forrest speaks at the launch of the Thrive By Five childcare funding campaign in Box Hill on May 3, 2022. Picture: Kiel Egging.

Ms Garland was alongside Opposition health and ageing spokeswoman Ged Kerney, who outlined Labor’s policies if they won the election.

They included a comprehensive review of early learning with an aim to subsidise learning fees by 90 per cent for all families, and tasking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission with designing a price regulation mechanism.

Ms Garland didn’t outline any specific local initiatives but said she fully backed Labor’s policies.

“When I’m knocking on doors and speaking to families every day in this community, people are really worried about the cost of childcare,” she said.

“We know that 7000 families in this community will be better off (under Labor’s policies) … I hope I’m going to part of an Albanese Labor Government that is going to see childcare become more affordable.”

When quizzed about the daily cost of childcare in Box Hill, Ms Garland said the average was $140 per day across the suburb, narrowly missing the $142.54 per day figure reported by industry website Care For Kids.

She correctly listed the current CPI index figure of 5.1 per cent and the Reserve Bank’s cash rate of 0.1 per cent, prior to the RBA announcing a 0.25 per cent rise on Tuesday afternoon.

Ms Garland will take on 10 other candidates for the seat of Chisholm at the May 21 poll, held by Liberal incumbent Gladys Liu by a 0.5 per cent margin.

Ms Liu didn’t attend Tuesday’s event, with Liberal senator Sarah Henderson representing the party and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Ms Garland said if she and Labor were elected, she was committed to being part of a government led by Anthony Albanese which could make a difference to the cost of living for Chisholm residents.

“I want to start as someone who listens to the community about their concerns, who shows up, and really is trying to make a difference in people’s everyday lives and experiences,” she said.

Ms Henderson said the government had set aside $11 billion in childcare support in its 2022-23 budget, most of which was targeted to low and middle income families.

“Most of our investment is being driven to provide the most support and the most help,” she said.

“We know for women who often to take the burden of childcare, they need to be supported going into the workforce.”

Minderoo Foundation co-chair Nicola Forrest said it was essential to reform the early learning and childcare system to keep costs low and allow more young mothers to return to the workforce.

“Too many women are not returning to the workforce because it’s simply not economical to put their children in childcare or early learning,” she said.

“We need affordable, universally-accessible, high quality early learning and care and we’re calling on whichever party forms government to make this a formal national cabinet priority.”