‘Tradies get a boost while kids miss out’
WORKING families needing vacation care and Gold Coasters looking for child care for the first time will lose out under the Federal Government’s decision to scrap “free child care” from July 12.
The child care subsidy scheme is set to return to prepandemic arrangements, with families having to restart co-payments. JobKeeper payments for early educator employees will also stop from July 20.
Jane Saxton Early Childhood
Services provides care for Gold Coast families in Beenleigh and Ms Saxton said she was still trying to dissect all the information but that it was “interesting that tradies get a boost while those who work with our youngest and some of our most vulnerable citizens are the first to lose their JobKeeper”.
This month a $688 million
HomeBuilder program was revealed, offering one-off cash payments to eligible owner-occupiers and firsthome buyers.
Lucy Cook, owner of Amaze Education, runs 11 childcare centres, including three on the Gold Coast. She said the Child Care Relief Package (CCRP) should have ceased before Queensland’s school holidays because it’s going to make vacation care problematic. “We estimate we will not be offering 430 of our places per day across five Outside School Hours Care Centres. A further one will be closed due to lack of viability from the restrictions,” she said. “This is going to majorly impact those families who have returned to work with all the children going back to school who will now need care over the holidays.”
Ms Cook said the activity test exemptions that gave 100 hours of care for those affected by COVID-19 meant some families would get more subsidised days. She also praised the new Transition To Work subsidy that allows people returning to work access to 95 per cent fee relief; it will be in place for the next six months.
Ashlee Thomas, a career mentor for women at Next Stop Employment, said childcare should be a right not a privilege, and they had a huge impact on women’s participation rates. “Before we go back to a broken system we should at least look into an alternative fair and affordable approach for all,” she said.