Trouble with childcare: Affordability, availability and quality

Abstract

Recent government approaches to childcare funding have been simple rather than innovative. Improvements in affordability have been short lived, with benefits quickly absorbed through higher costs charged to families. The result is an ongoing game of catch up between government and service providers with families stuck in the middle. Since 2001, the proportion of Australian households reporting difficulties with the cost of childcare for a child under five has increased to more than three out of ten, making affordability an ongoing issue for households – and an election issue for politicians.