Fury as free childcare scheme ends early, leaving parents in lurch

Scott Morrison assured Aussies they could “count on” JobKeeper lasting six months. Just days later, part of that promise has been broken.

The days of free childcare are fast coming to an end after the Government announced Aussie families would have to pay up from July 13.

In early April, at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a groundbreaking plan to make childcare temporarily free for around one million families as the crisis escalated.

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At the time, he said priority would be given to working parents, vulnerable and disadvantaged children that need early education more than ever and parents with pre-existing enrolments.

Now, a looming end date for the scheme has been announced, with the emergency free childcare package to be scrapped in mid-July.

It immediately sparked concerns that the package was being removed too quickly and that some parents would struggle to pay fees.

CHILDCARE FEES

Speaking on Today this morning, Education Minister Dan Tehan said the decision was made after a government survey found demand was “back up at levels of 74 per cent”.

“We said we would give parents and the sector four weeks’ notice of a change. We have done that. And we think, through the consultations we have undertaken with the sector, that this will get the balance right and we will be able to see more children get the care they need over the coming months,” Mr Tehan said.

“We have to remember 20 per cent of families in centre-based daycare pay no more than $2 an hour for care and for 70 per cent of families it is $5 an hour or less. So the scheme that we are bringing back, the childcare subsidy scheme, is targeted for those who are least well off.

“So we think with the changes to the activity test and the fact that the old scheme that we are bringing back is targeted for those who have lost work or who have seen reduced hours that they will get more subsidy as a result, we think that we have got the balance right in this transition.”

Mr Tehan insisted that in the nearly two years the current system has been in place, out-of-pocket expenses for parents had reduced by 4 per cent.

But there are concerns many families who have lost income as a result of COVID-19 will struggle to pay the reintroduced fees, with Goodstart chief executive John Cherry telling ABC Radio National today that half of the childcare firm’s nearly 60,000 families have had their income cut since February either through job losses or reductions in hours.

Labor’s early childhood education spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth also slammed the move, describing it as a “snapback” approach that “could well act as a handbrake on the economy”.

JOBKEEPER AXED

While the bulk of attention has gone to the reintroduction of childcare fees, the government has also announced that from July 20, the JobKeeper wage subsidy would no longer be available to the industry.

Instead, the $1500-a-fortnight payments, which were paid to around 120,000 childcare employees – would be replaced with a $708 million transition package – which might represent less cash than JobKeeper.

What we’ve learned from the COVID-19 Senate Committee today is that Australians can’t count on the Morrison Government for support through this crisis. A so-called ‘guarantee’ from the PM is a broken promise less than 48 hours later… #auspol pic.twitter.com/r9dbahM6Ij

— Katy Gallagher (@SenKatyG) June 9, 2020

It comes just days after Mr Morrison told reporters during a press conference that the JobKeeper program has been legislated to last for six months and therefore that “people can count on that”.

The backflip has prompted some to accuse the Government of broken promises, with Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles telling Sky News the decision was a “complete breach of faith” and ALP Senator Katy Gallagher labelling it a “broken promise”.

Others have also accused the Government of supporting traditionally male industries – such as construction via the new HomeBuilder scheme – while targeting the female-dominated childcare industry.

It's official, we have a "she-cession". But a "blokey", construction led recovery? And we're going to ax free childcare, while ensuring the female dominated early education sector is the first (and thus far only) sector to lose Jobkeeper? We need a shovel all right. https://t.co/0HbfQJFLzh

— Kristine Ziwica (@KZiwica) June 9, 2020

The move has also sparked fears the Government is preparing to withdraw JobKeeper from more specific industries in the near future.

– with wires