Many families are now in a worse position after changes to the Child Care Subsidy.

We agree that people who earn less should not have to pay the same rates of childcare than those who earn more. However, the current privatised early childhood education and childcare system in Australia means many working (and non-working) parents who now have limited or no government support have extremely limited options for early childhood education / childcare.

Most parents are at the mercy of private centres who run for profit and charge extremely high fees.
For many families the only available child care can cost up to $190 per day or $49,400 per year for full time care of 1 child. Many parents have had to limit working days or even resign.

The qualification and basis for calculation of this new Child Care Subsidy needs to be reviewed and further investigation must be undertaken to properly review the economic impact such high fees have on households, the workforce and future generations of Australia, for example:

- should the hourly cap be adjusted to take into account that costs can be significantly higher across different areas?
- is the additional subsidy for low income earners facilitating more children to have early education opportunities?
- is the sliding scale of the subsidy (and cap on payments) discouraging professional working women from increasing participation in the workforce?
- is the basis of calculation for the subsidy an accurate reflection of actual child care costs?