Federal government waives gap fees for NSW parents who keep their kids at home

Parents struggling to juggle working from home and their children under Sydney’s strict lockdown have been given a sliver of hope.

Parents who keep their kids at home during the Sydney lockdown will not be on the hook for child care they don’t use.

The federal government has waived gap fees from childcare centres across Greater Sydney, but they will continue to receive government subsidies.

That means parents in Sydney’s lockdown will not be charged for child care they do not use and will not lose their place if they decide to keep their children at home.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison expected a “strong take up” of the opt-in scheme, which would be available to 216,000 families at 3600 centres.

“We’ve done this several times now (and) it’s proved to be the most effective way of doing it,” he told ABC radio.

“The families and the centres know each other very, very well and they’ll come to those arrangements. It’s proved to be the most effective and flexible way to deal with the challenge.”

Scott Morrison expects a ‘strong take up’ of the scheme. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Wednesday confirmed the lockdown would be extended until at least late July, as the state struggled to bring the highly-contagious Delta under control.

The NSW and federal governments combined to boost the emergency Covid-19 disaster payment this week.

Mr Morrison defended Ms Berejiklian from criticism she was too slow to impose lockdowns but flatly rejected suggestions NSW had been forced to delay restrictions over a lack of wage support from the commonwealth.

“NSW, like every state and territory government, acts on the information they have available,” he said.

“They went into lockdown on day 11. The second wave lockdown in Victoria went in on day 45. So there’s been a lot learned.”

Labor has argued the NSW lockdown would not have been necessary had Australia’s sluggish vaccine rollout met initial expectations.

Mr Morrison accepted the rollout was the responsibility of the federal government.

“We would have foreseen the future better … It’s interesting to be wise in hindsight,” he said.

NSW has been plunged into an effectively indefinite lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The federal government has also been accused of a “double standard” over its support for NSW after the Victorian government claimed it was “sick and tired” of being forced to “beg” for commonwealth support.

But Mr Morrison insisted support for NSW during the first fortnight was “exactly the same” as that provided to Victoria throughout its two-week lockdown.

The federal government has amended its emergency payment as lockdowns extended, waiving a $10,000 income cap for the third week and increasing payments for the fourth.

Mr Morrison said that would also be available to Victoria if it was again plunged into a prolonged lockdown.

“If Victoria goes into this again, I think we’ll have even better arrangements to support them through,” he said.

“We believe we’ve been able to develop a good model in NSW that I think would work even more effectively in Victoria than the models that we’ve had before.”