Counterpoint: Child Care Reform and Labour Market Participation by Women

Abstract

The public hearings conducted by the Senate Inquiry into Child Care Funding earlier this year provided a window onto the concerns of child care service providers and users. As both a participant and an observer at the Sydney hearings I listened to detailed reports of the crisis facing this sector. The reports came from a range of sources: parents, staff, service providers, local councils, early childhood professionals, sponsoring agencies, and peak bodies. Overwhelmingly they presented a consistent and depressing picture: many middle- and low-income Australian families can no longer afford child care; parents are being compelled to reduce the hours their children attend child care or withdraw them from formal care altogether (at the same time reducing their own commitment to paid work); children are increasingly subjected to a patchwork of arrangements involving family care, informal care, and limited formal provision; and some parents, as a last resort, have withdrawn from paid employment.