There has been a lot of chatter about the state of child care in Australia recently. How much it costs, how much childcare workers are getting paid, should nannies be a tax deduction, how much the rebates help … how do we keep it affordable. The list goes on. And on.
Well, the Australian Government knows who to ask and that’s Mamamia readers.
We’ve run news updates, posts and watched comment threads unfold as you discuss child care options and what works – and doesn’t work – for your family. Many Mamamia readers work in the industry and know firsthand what it’s like.
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Child Care Minister Kate Ellis came to Mamamia HQ last week to have that same conversation with you, answering your questions and replying to your comments live right here.
Ms Gillard told journalists
“I want to make sure that when we’re giving families extra support that that is making a difference to child care affordability for them,” she said.
The PM is in Sydney for a child care summit, talking directly to child care workers and unions to nail down policy details.
Ms Gillard said Labor had tripled the investment in childcare – to more than $22 billion – and had increased the child care tax rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.
Now, she’s not looking for Dorothy Dixers or easy questions to answer. It’s up to you to ask the questions you need answered (politely, of course)! Tell the PM or Kate Ellis what it’s like for you. How could you be helped?
The PM was online last week however Kate Ellis will be coming back to answer your questions over the next few days.
So make sure you come back to get involved!
Fire away: what is child care like for you at the moment? How could you be helped? What isn’t working? What’s it like working in the industry? Do you have anything to do with the industry and want to share your thoughts?
NB: Remember, your experience counts. If you have something to say about balancing child care and work, let us know. But our usual comment rules apply. Stick to the topic. Keep your comments civil and polite. We can disagree as much as we like, but rude comments will be removed.
Comments
724 Comments so far
I have 3 children, and my eldest will soon start school. If the younger 2 attend a child care centre, I will be entitled to rebates of up to $15,000 on fees. However, if I choose to have a nanny care for them at home, I am entitled to $0 in rebates. Why wouldn’t the government offer some form of rebate for in home child care ( noting I will not satisfy any of the extremely narrow circumstances that the current policy permits such a rebate)
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I would like pose the following question to our Prime Minister:
Will the Labor government consider making early childhood education as compulsory for our kids at least for a period of 1-year and thereby ensuring all our kids are in equal learning skills when they attend the formal school education?
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From my understanding, this is the purpose of prep school which is now mandatory for all Queensland children from the age of 4 (not sure how this work in other states but I imagine it would be somewhat the same in NSW and VIC).
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Prep is strongly encouraged but not compulsory (in Qld).
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BRAVO Natarsha Laundon!
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Dear Prime Minister and Kate Ellis,
I’ve worked for Bankstown Family Day Care for the past 17 years. I acknowledge the improvements your government has made to childcare for families, such as the rebate. However under the new National Quality Standard, staff-to-child ratios will be changed. For Family Day Care this will mean from 1 January 2014 – 1 staff member to 7 children with a maximum of 4 children not yet attending school. I, along with many others, currently have 5 children (not yet attending school) in my care. Under your proposed changes, my already low salary will drop by approximately $10,000 per year. What can you do to remedy this?
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While I understand it’s for ease of application, rebates capped at particular levels, or applied after use of $X of childcare ALWAYS disadvantage Sydney Mums. Is it possible to see some policy recognition that the cost of living and wages are not equal in all capitals? $150K in Tasmania is *not* the same as $150K in Sydney!
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Well said Kel! $150K doesn’t go very far in Sydney! Maybe we should all move to country towns and commute to work
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Prime Minister and Minister,
I understand the federal government has a push to get women back into the workforce after maternity leave. I am a mother of 3, I wanted to return to work to maintain my employability but am seriously reconsidering my new job after only a few weeks because with the current CCB & CCR structure it isn’t financially feasible for me maintain working. Our total family income has just pushed us into the bracket where we have lost a large percentage of our family assistance and our child care fees (for 2 children) are so high that I am only $200 a fortnight in front. It just isn’t worth the stress of having two full time working parents for such a small amount of financial gain. I applaud the decision to allow the CCR to be paid directly to the childcare centre as this eases the burden of finding fees upfront each week, but I still think there is room for improvement in where percentage cutoffs are determined for both CCB and FTB. Thankyou.
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Dear Ms Gillard
I’ve been a ‘child care worker’ for 7 years. I’m also a United Voice delegate for our Big Steps Campaign – to bring professional wages to our sector. I think the new EYLF and NQF is great, that you are making the child care sector professional. But what about giving us a professional wage to go with it? As an ‘educator’ with their Advanced Diploma I only earn $22.58 an hour and that’s after 4 years of study. I live by myself and on my pay after all my bills come out I’m sometimes lucky if I have $20 left for food and petrol. Just two weeks ago I had to pay my car rego and in order to do that I had to sacrifice paying my car loan as well as my phone bill so now I have to play catch up with them which means even less money at the end of the week. I haven’t had enough money to do a proper grocery shop since February and then it was my mum that brought the groceries for me, most weeks I can only afford to get a few items that I desperately need. Please look into our wages, as Teacher Aids who have their Certificate 3 earn about $30-35 an hour and an Assistant Educator who has their Certificate 3 only earns $18 an hour how is this fair? If we were able to get a Goverment Funded pay increase it would mean so much to me as it would mean that I wouldn’t be struggling anymore, that I could pay my bills on time as I had the money there to pay them, that I could regularly buy groceries and fully fill my car up with fuel instead of only being able to put $10-20 in each week. Please give us professional wages to go with the professional education that we have always taught. Thank you.
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My question is about the perception of the role of Early Childhood Education (ECE) . We now know that the most important devlopment happens between 0-5 and that the benefits of quality ECE for children, families & communities are well documented and accepted. However ECE is not treated the way primary & secondary education is. That is the government takes responsibility for the provision of education, pays the teachers professionally and works towards ensuring that all children attend. When there is a new school needed, no one suggests that private providers should take up the slack, it is expected the government will find a way to do it.
PM Gillard , it is time to fund ECE properly, build more centres and pay the staff as the well educated professionals that they are.
I live In a rural city ( Swan Hill) that has a severe shortage of ECE places. The families suffer, the children suffer and the businesses suffer.
We need a new centre and there seems to be no way to make this happen.
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I’d like to say thanks for improving things so much for working parents.
My children are teenagers now, they were in day-care during the Howard years. I remember having to drive to Centrelink for an interview to discover that my rebate was 60 cents per day. There were a couple of years where day-care for two children cost more than I earned. There were huge incentives to be a “stay at home mum’ but this would not have been in my long-term best interests.
I would love to see child-care and many other caring professionals be paid more for their work. This would benefit the workers, the parents and the country in the long term.
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I am a mother, Centre owner and operator, an ECT and a committed educator. The sector is in crisis…… recruitment and retention of educators to implement the NQF is what it needed. But how can we attract educators on just over minimum wage? The sector is unable to implement the great reforms without educators who are dedicated to early education. The job is hard… it is long….. it is undervalued…..but why does it continue to be underpaid? We are educators with training, responsibility, accountability and the lives of young children in out hands. Professional jobs must have professional pay funded by the government. It is in the best interest of all Australians to ensure that our future generations grow to their full potential.
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Well said Alice! I am a diploma qualified educator who is currently studying my degree in early childhood. I chose to complete this as a means to be able to have my own children in the next few yrs. As a first yr teacher here in Qld, I would earn literally double my income as a group leader (after 3yrs of study) and 10yrs experience in the industry. The ratios at our centre are still in the phasing in stage so I look after 22 2-4yr olds everyday, as we now count each staff member as a separate entity depending on age of the child. My question, Prime Minister- why should I have to complete another 3yrs of study (paid for by me) to work as a teacher, to do essentially the same job I do now (except with less paperwork and more holidays) when I could just earn a professional wage now, as part of the childcare sector I have worked in for so long? It is high time our job was recognised as professional…and paid accordingly. Thankyou for your time.
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I know of families who use day care so the mum can have a day off. This is fine but they also claim the child care rebate which is my tax payer dollars helping pay for their day off.
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You can only get child care rebate if you meet the work/study criteria. If you suspect someone is rorting the system, you can always report them to Centrelink.
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Guys, these questions are great! Keep them coming!
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As my partner is self employed, with a very variable income, we can’t estimate his income to claim the 50% childcare rebate upfront. This means that I pay approximately $400 per week in childcare fees for my 3year old and about $100 per week for after school care for my 6 year old (plus some vacation care). This is about the same as my mortgage payment! We can claim the 50% rebate after his business does his tax ad he gets his assessable income (this can take up to a year). I think it would make more sense to pay the 50% directly to the childcare provider and halve my fees. This would actually allow me to use the money, rather than not being able to claim for such a long time. Can some consideration be given to changing the 50% rebate to a direct payment to the nominated childcare provider.?
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This is already available however I imagine if you choose to do this you would have to make an assumption on what your husband’s income will be for the year and if you get it wrong and it is over the threshold you would have to repay it.
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kylie, check with the family assistance office, the government changed payment options at the beginning of this financial year and I believe you can elect to have the 50% rebate deducted from your fees directly, or paid quarterly or annually directly to you.
here is the link
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/childcare_rebate.htm
I hope this helps
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The bit that drives me mad about that is that they do it to prevent overpayment- yet you are required to repay anything that you are not entitled to at the end of the year anyway. So what can’t they just let you estimate your earnings and be liable for any changes!
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I would like to ask the Prime Minister and the Minister why they are so bad at communicating their government’s real achievement in improving the quality of child care to parents. As a parent (admittedly middle class) I don’t mind paying more for better quality care. I understand from my centre that your government is working to improve the quality of child care, but I never hear you give that message. It always get drowned by noise about costs.
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We want great staff doing great things with our great children… so how about a great wage too!!?
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I have been working as a Qualified Educator for ten years and in that time I have only seen a pay increase of the “low income earner” that is given to all sectors of employment (one a year), which is approximately 30 cents an hr. The cost of living throughout the years has increase dramatically, that I had to take up a second job just to make ends meet. Recently I moved into a share house to help with the cost of living. I found out that the people that I am living with are getting a pay rise every six months and are just sitting at a desk infront of a computer. How can this be? It does not take much to turn on a computer and type, however if you got these people to do one day looking after children they would be pulling their hair out. I keep hearing and seeing ” Children are our future”. Well if this is the case, the educators like myself need to be recognised for the work that we do to prepare children for the future. This can only be done by paying us a descent wage.
So I put it to you Prime Minister how do you see our future and the future of the nation?
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I voted for Jules and I for one am super excited about see the prime minister in my workplace tomorrow!!!
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As ratios changed 1:4 Jan 2012 the biggest increase @ our 39 place Vic centre is wages so feel our increase is justified & confirmed & 2nd lowest fees in area
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I love working as an Early Childhood Educator, but hate the low wage I earn. I often see educators leaving the industry all the time. Does the government (who have invested time and money into the new NQF) understand that they also need to help fund pay increases to educators. This will not only to keep quality educators in the industry, but help keep costs of childcare at a reasonable rate, that families can afford.
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I have been on the wait list for our local centre since I was 4 months pregnant and last week I was told by the coordinator that I will be lucky to get a spot when he turns two. Crazy! We have a spot at a much less convienent place, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
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Best idea I have for the cost associated with childcare issues. Stop the rebate for stay at home parents. Use the saved money to support those that work. Scott in Geelong
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I’ll throw in my cheery view on this. I think that by and large the system works quite well.
I’ve been on the board of our community run child care centre and it can be hard to make ends meet, especially for capital improvements (if I think my kids trash the walls around this place quickly, multiply that by 60 a day and its a lot of repainting etc). Child care workers are underpaid but the push has been on to improve that and over time if we keep the pressure up they’ll rise. This will make fees go up. We pay above award rates and have fabulous staff. The sector seems to be determined to keep what they pay pegged to the award – its the bottom not the only amount you can pay!
I think the new framework could have been rolled out a bit more slowly to allow more time to adapt, milestones every six months over more years. But the changes are overall for the better.
This government has done a good job of reframing child care as about quality and education in the early years. What I feel is missing from the conversation is economic prosperity and equal opportunity. Affordabel and available child care should be considered a basic not-negotiable element of a modern prosperous economy. Every penny the government saves in restricting rebates, is spent retraining (usually) women five years later to reenter the workforce. My view is that working is good for women and good for the economy and it should never be more viable from a taxation or FTB standpoint for a woman to not work. There are particular bracket points where the ‘lower earner’ in a family can go to work 3 – 5 days a week for less take home pay than they get in FTB payments once child care and a train ticket is deducted. This should never be the case and those bracket points need to be addressed.
But by and large, good job. Had I been a mum of two under school age in the early years of the Howard years with no rebates, I’d be in serious trouble.
Oh and good work on the fortnightly rebate. Makes life so much easier at a cash flow level.
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They should ensure the child care rebate too is only paid on a receipt from the centre too many get the rebate but we don’t see the cash
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I run a small centre working 11.5 hours most days with out a break to try and keep quality care because the wages are so low it is hard to find good qualified childcare educators
Educators need hire wages and more respect
We put everything into our small business and still struggle
When will governement start looking at no extra has gone in to childcare they have taken from one payment plan and started a new but no extra payment for centre’s
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Dear Prime minister, I am a “Chilcare Worker” although under the EYLF I am ow refered to as an “Early Childhood Educator” after 40 yrs it is nice to be described accordingly, over the years I have extended my training (at my own cost) I have worked with Special needs children and also done extra training to assist with this (most recently on a Saturday all day unpaid) I am not complaining because I love children and I love to Educate them but who would do this special job for under $20.00 an hour? It may be ok if you live at home with your parents but if like me you are 59 yrs and the sole wage earner with rent to pay of $400 a week, if you do the math you’ll find it doesn’t add up! Add to that only 10 days sick leave per year paid when you have sick chn coughing in your face and vomiting on you constantly io think it is a lot to ask, for such little pay, and then of course planning, reporting, programming, and parent meetings while keeping a professional standard equal to teaching. (Teachers Aides earn $30.00 per hour ) I emplore the Govt to recognise the need for Early Childhood educators to be paid their worth! Thank You Prime Minister.
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Glenda, I agree with you. There is something wrong with our world if the people who care for our future generation are among the lowest paid workers in our community. I applaud the work your industry undertakes, and for little financial reward
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Well said Jane my thought exactly
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Well said Jane my thought exactly
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Awesome points
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Any training you undertake to improve your skills can be claimed as a tax deduction. Also any other costs associated with that training. If you haven’t claimed in prior years you can submit a revised return to recoup those costs too.
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Well said
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Dear Prime minister, I am a “Chilcare Worker” although under the EYLF I am ow refered to as an “Early Childhood Educator” after 40 yrs it is nice to be described accordingly, over the years I have extended my training (at my own cost) I have worked with Special needs children and also done extra training to assist with this (most recently on a Saturday all day unpaid) I am not complaining because I love children and I love to Educate them but who would do this special job for under $20.00 an hour? It may be ok if you live at home with your parents but if like me you are 59 yrs and the sole wage earner with rent to pay of $400 a week, if you do the math you’ll find it doesn’t add up! Add to that only 10 days sick leave per year paid when you have sick chn coughing in your face and vomiting on you constantly io think it is a lot to ask, for such little pay, and then of course planning, reporting, programming, and parent meetings while keeping a professional standard equal to teaching. (Teachers Aides earn $30.00 per hour ) I emplore the Govt to recognise the need for Early Childhood educators to be paid their worth! Thank You Prime Minister.
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I totally agree with this, working in child care is a thankless and underpaid job, would you work 8 hours a day with highly demanding children for $18hr? I earnt more working in McDonald’s, if you have to live on your own it would not be possible working in child care, what’s that saying? The industry has made us be certificate qualified but unfortunately the pay doesn’t match the qualification. Child care fees increase but our pay does not! Shame on the government and fair work for allowing this to happen.
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Prime Minister and Kate Ellis,
We are new private Child Care Service that will provide the much needed care for the age bracket of 6wks – 3years.
We are currently waiting to open in Bathurst with a full head of staff and a full role consisting of approx. 45 local families with majority desperately requiring care due to the shortfall of child care placements in this area.
We have currently been waiting numerous weeks for DOCS to initiate the processing of our licensing which is preventing us from providing much needed care in this region. This in turn is placing several of our parent’s jobs in jeopardy despite numerous calls to the Department from us.
From what we can gather, it appears that DOCS are overwhelmed with massive backlog created due to the current changes to childcare regulations introduced in Jan 2012. What is the government going to do to assist DOCS with their licensing procedures to enable new Services to open without the costly lengthy delays in processing applications??
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Prime Minister & Kate Ellis – more comments than question. You are both inspiration for working woman and should be commended for your consultation process.
I am not familiar with the systemic issues of child care; although the Victorian State Government has made significant cuts to TAFE funding which i imagine impacts this workforce.
I am a working public servant, raising 3 children on a single income. I am fortunate to have flexible working conditions and believe this is because my Director is also a woman and a mother – not all women will be this fortunate and this shouldn’t be dependent on personnel and rather embedded in our working culture.
Barriers of child care inhibit opportunities for education and training as well as employment, particularly for disadvantaged woman. This should continue to be a priority conversation for the government.
Equal remuneration for women is also a very crucial part of this conversation.
It’s unfortunate we don’t get paid for our amazing ability to multitask!
Thank you
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There has got to be something very wrong with our society if parents are putting 6 week old babies into child care. Just saying!
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I work in the industry and we have had a couple of 6 week old babies come as the parents need to be back at work to support their family or have been brought in by DOCS for emergency care
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Why has Mr Abbott said NO to even working with you on child care?
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Child care is not babysitting. My eyes have been opened to the care and knowledge of the carers in a childcare centre. They do fantastic things for children’s development: speech, toilet training, fine motor skills, socialising, behaviour management, sleeping. They help teach parents how to be the best parents they can be. I frequently pay my child’s carers more than is required because I want them to know how much they are appreciated. I want them to stay with my child through the year. Even the younger carers have a special spirit that everyone should be exposed to in their lives. They are beautiful people. Please continue to support the child care sector, it really does make a big difference to the community at large.
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I think it’s great that you are looking for advice on such a great forum.
In Darwin, availability is a big issue. In my centre alone, there are at least 5 families with 10 kids between them who are in full time care. The mothers do no work , study or job search. They are all on the jet program. Leaves me incredibly confused as to why I’m waiting an waiting to pay 80 bux a day, and they pay 6 bux and go and get their nails done. Meanwhile I’m having to defer uni classes, full time work, all because I can’t get care.
I also believe that child care workers need a raise. They are being paid to educate our future (as well as us of course), and due to the wages-lack thereof they are left with substandard staff that are constantly looking for better paid work.
I’ve always been a great worker, I’m currently studying, and I really enjoy it, but it’s just not worth it if my 3yr olds development is going to be put at risk. I could stay home an earn as much.
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Hi, Im the director of a child care Centre.
We all know there is an extreme shortage in qualified or experienced workers in the field and is predictably low paid for what the staff do.
I have many international travelers wanting work, who have Primary School qualifications and is extremely experienced, but in australian their qualifications are worth nothing, so we cannot employ them.
Until the government raises the the award to make it more attractive for new local employers, what are they doing to make it easier to employ these experienced overseas staff to fill the gaps in a profession that’s becoming hard to hire.
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Ms Gillard- I am one of a minority. I work. I waited till I could afford children and then how many we could support.. I immunized them. I cared for them. I cried for them and with them when times were tough. I had a tiny home no new anything not even carpets or curtains. I did not put my hand out for a handout and ask the Got and community to support my life choices. Now in my older years I am again being asked to put my hand in my pocket to fill the pockets of those who want to do as they wish and is their right to do BUT they want everyone else to pay for their choices. As you can tell I and people like me are fed up with things as they are. When is it our turn. When do you speak for those who try and do the best they can with what they have and through hard work and doing without…………
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Your perception of this issue is one that many have. However this is not an issue of Childcare but of Early Childhood Education. We now know that the experiences children have in their early years have a major impact on the life long learning. We don’t see primary education as a way of parents avoiding the responsibility and we need to see ECE in the same way. I am not sure how old you are but at some stage you will need well qualified, capable people to care for you in your later years. Instead of thinking of the children as they are know, think about the kind of adults you want to have around you in 20 years. Quality ECE leads to better educated, more socially reponsible adults who are healthier and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. I would rather fund Early Childhood Education than jails.
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I think it is the emphasis on helping working families all the time that is difficult to deal with. Families with children are not the majority of the population – yet all of the other groups are by and large ignored in budgets. We can’t afford to increase aged pensions or new start allowances but lets throw more money at people because they have children. When my parents were raising children there were none of the constant handouts – help with childcare, education expenses, baby bonuses, immunisation payments, etc and while times have changed the current sense of entitlement to government money to fund lifestyle choices is bloody annoying to say the least. Every time a change is announced, people start crying poor as they are over the cutoff by a couple of thousand and it’s all so unfair.
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To help facilitate increasing places and centres where they are needed, as well as funding higher salaries for higher qualified staff, would it be possible to put the childcare industry underneath the umbrella of the state education systems?
It seems to make sense as the bureaucratic infrastructure is already there.
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Hi Prime Minister,
Thanks for talking with parents about this issue. I have two boys aged 4 and 1 in daycare three days a week, which costs $430 a week. It is a great centre with wonderful staff and my boys love going there – we are very fortunate!
Our family receives the child care rebate, like everyone does, but nothing further. My only issue is that my husband and I seem to be just inside the tax bracket that receives no government help but is taxed to the hilt. I really feel you and the Treasurer – my hard-working local MP – should reassess what constitutes the budget of a “working family”. Our income might look ok on paper, but it really doesn’t stretch that far.
Again, thanks for listening/reading. Good luck in the next election!
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We’re in the same boat as you Brooke except we have three kids. We miss out on any govt assistance by $2000. By the time the “low income” families get thee CCB, FTB and school kids bonus they are thousands of dollars ahead of us. How is this fair? Where is the incentive to keep working? We receive the CCR paid direct to our before school care centre only their policy is that we pay full fees upfront as centrelink take too long to pay them. I really feel like we are copping it from everywhere, pay more for childcare, healthcare and now the carbon tax. How is it fair that a lousy $2000 makes that much difference to our working family?
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I find it unbelievable people who don’t get CCB because of means testing think it’s unfair that low income families get more assistance. And this is justified with our income is just good on paper, it doesn’t stretch that far. Well how far do you think incomes that look low on paper stretch. I am also not eligible for CCB but I understand means testing and understand I live in a society where I pay taxes to help people less fortunate than myself not to get the assistance back ourself.
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Well said Brooke. We are in a similar position, with three children we earn just enough to be over the limit to receive anything except the child care rebate. Financially we would be much better off if I worked less and claimed everything we could from the Federal Government. I don’t believe in doing this however if the child care rebate starts being means tested as well we would have to consider that as an option.
My question for the Prime Minister and Minister Ellis is, does the government intend to means/income test the child care rebate in the future?
Thank you for your time and I believe it shows great insight to address the Mamamia community in this way.
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Hi Prime Minister,
With two children (2.5 years & 8 months) in childcare in Sydney 4 days a week it costs over $800 per week.
It is a crazy amount of money a week.
Do not get me wrong, the centre the kids go to is fantastic. The quality of care and dedication the staff put in is unbelievable and we are blessed these educators love their jobs so much to put up with the poor pay and conditions.
I guess what are issue is- is that I can’t afford to work full time ( fees $1000 per week) and I’m thinking about resigning due to the cost in going to work. Many friends, colleagues who are talented women are leaving the workforce long term due to these fees.
The choice has really been taken away and also the size of our families are based around the amount we all pay in childcare fees.
Unfortunately our jobs see us having to reside in Sydney and as such it is a shame that in certain areas, children are not going to kindy as it is way too expensive.
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I am both parent and a former child care educator. I can tell you my life was hard, trying to bring my three children up with little or no money. The only way we survived was with me and my husband working two jobs to support my young family off and on through out my career. I don’t know how many times I quit the sector because of the wages but my love of children and the role I preformed kept me going back. My own children went without many times, things like camp, text books at school. How do you think that makes me feell as a patent. Why shoulld early educators be penalised because tHey choose to care and educate the future of Australia. The other question is does society and the Government truly understand or care about how hard it is to stay motivated and focused on a job that requires enormous amounts of varing skills such as educating, counseling and caring, just to name a few, when you can’t pay your normal household bills, put food in the fridge and even afford fuel for your car to get to work. Something needs to be done to address this. What are you going to do to fix the pay inequity and what I feel is out and out discrimination against 1000,s of workers.
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Took the words right out of my mouth Brooke. There seems to be so many of us in the same boat!
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Im a widowed sole parent. Other than the childcare rebate which everyone gets, according to Centrelink I am not eligible for any other assistance as its my gross income thats taken into account – not my net income – i.e. what I end up with in the bank each week. I have just returned to work and find that after I take out the cost of childcare from my net income I earn less than I would if I stayed home on the sole parent pension. So what would help me? Two things – either Centrelink accounting for the childcare costs which I incur through working or if the cost of my childcare was tax deductible.
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Hi Prime Minister,
I’ve been a child care Group Leader for nearly 10 years and from my experience, I find that the workers don’t get the pay they deserve for the work we do. Child care workers do a lot of paperwork ( on par with school teachers so I’m told by a Primary school teacher ). The paperwork involved changes nearly every year and seems to increase. Workers have contact with bodily fluids every day, can be subject to abuse by children ( biting, kicking, spitting, hitting ). Workers do worry about their hours and their job due to the occupancy at the centre due to expensive fees ( the centre I work at is really good and passes accreditation ) Workers have to pay for their first aid, blue card fees, flu vaccinations; uniforms. Working with children is rewarding and is a lovely experience at times, however working in poor conditions makes this is a physically and mentally exhausting job. I propose the government do the following for workers and families.
* Make Child care more affordable for families
* Increase the pay for all child care workers
* Fund the costs essential for workers – Blue Card, first aid, uniforms, training; flu vaccinations.
* Better hoursand conditions for workers ( hiring a cleaner for each centre )
* Quality care rather than cost cutting. Having 2 staff in each room at all times. Especially in preschool room. 24 children to one carer at rest time period ( where the kids don’t even rest ) is a high risk situation.
Thank you for your time.
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Wow, i’m scared… is it EVER meant to be 24 kids to one carer??? i thought the figures were way lower than that. This scares me. in school, fine, i can see that, but these are PRESCHOOLERS…
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This is the preschool age group. The ratio is 1:12 or 2:24. At rest time, most of the kids dont even rest. The staff need to have an hour lunch break. So one staff member looks after all these kids. Meanwhile, it’s a high risk situation with some kids not doing the right thing, trashing the room at times, swearing, yelling, running outside. I personally quit that room for that reason, my stress levels were that high and I had to have a break. The director doesn’t care, doesn’t put an extra staff member to help. Yet, the evaluations and paper work for that day needs to get done and the only peaceful time to do it is in lunch time. Working conditions are bad and something needs to be done.
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Wait – let me clarify this: You’re saying that there are 2 educators in your Preschool room with 24 children? And when one of these educators takes a 1 hour lunch break there is 1 staff member left alone with 24 children? I am absolutely appauled. Child Protection policies anyone? If this is the case I would, for your own protection, leave the service immediately. All it can take is for one child to say you were inappropriate and you have no protection for yourself. This could have serious legal rammifications. For the protection of the children, I would also be reporting the service to DEC in a flash.
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This is your centre breaking regulations Amanda. It is 1:12 AT ALL TIMES! If one of you is on lunch break the roster needs to allow for that. Eg floaters who cover breaks. The ratios aren’t a guide your director can follow when it’s convenient, there must always be a 1:12 ratio. This is very dangerous and I fell sorry for the unknowing parents (and poor staff in this dodgy centre).
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I am not sure what state you are in but in QLD there was a provision introduced to allow services to exceed their ratio for a period of 2 hours each day. The intent of this provision was for services that provided school age care to exceed their ration in the afternoons as there was often a short overlap of time between ‘schoolies’ arriving and the younger children going home. This provision somehow became a rest time clause where services applied for their 2 hour period to occur during the middle of the day when children were resting, and could only be applied for children over 3 years of age-hence the preschool room situation. Not only has this situation been exploited for years, but has resulted in appalling care for the children as they are made to lie for unnecessarily long periods of time on their beds (whether tired or not) as the 1 staff member left in the room tries to write up paperwork, tidy the room, clean the bathrooms etc. Services that had this provision in place prior to the NQF being introduced have a grace period before this will be phased out and it is no longer an option for new services. Hope this clarifies. Lisa
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Childcare worker for 25 yrs and mother of 2. Have worked in centers where 1 staff member was left to look after 24 ‘resting’ ch’n. And lunch break less than 1 hour. However centre had 4 rooms and most staff on breaks had to remain on site incase of emergency. Crap for concerned. Also worked in centre that had a floater to cover breaks however jobs like cleaning 2 bathrooms were done at that time so someone was still in the room on there own usually completing daily comment sheets for parents to at pickup time. When it came to my own children went back to work full time with first at 4 mths as that’s when 1 of numerous centre had a surprise place. My husband worked weekends so we could take part time childcare
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When should there ever be 24:1 ratio. The ratio for preschoolers is 14:1, at any time. I am lucky to work at a centre who tries to always work above the ratios.
However, there is no incentive to stay in this industry. The pay is a disgrace. People make us responsible for their children, the most previous thing in their lives, and we are expected to educate them. The industry expects much more than just babysitting no matter what some people believe.
The only reason I stay in childcare is that I am lucky that the centre I work in offer
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1:10 is not even enough and that’s legal in NSW and much better!!!!
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I work in a long daycare center in Victoria.
Industry regulation ratios are 1:4 in under 3, and 1:15 in the over 3 rooms. Reading the comments above make me realise we are lucky!
However, If a staff member has to leave the room, to print something off or get a mop for example, we are still counted as ratio for that room as we are still “under the roofline” a term that I think we are all still a bit confused about. This means that legally we are also able to take our breaks, leaving only 1 staff in the room for 30 mins, with up to 30 children!!
Luckily our director realises the need for appropriate staff numbers and we have “breaks” staff who floats around covering everyone for their breaks.
I work in the kinder room (3~5) and we always find it amusing when the Under 3 staffers yelp out as soon as their numbers hit their 1:4 ratio, demanding another staff member come in (so they can have 5 staff with 20 children) they take staff from the older rooms, sometimes leaving 2 staff with 30 4yo children!
I know it’s still in line with regs, but the inequality in age group ratios seems silly. Most of the under 3 staff are terrified of coming up and working with the older children, but will happily take our staff to cover them while that do dishes!
LOVE your idea of the govt hiring a cleaner for each center. Sure would avoid many (behind hand) arguments around here.
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Wow, I feel even more blessed with my daughter’s preschool now. (it’s not a long DC centre). 3 staff to 18 kids (all kids are over 3) plus a casual most days to cover breaks etc. There are always at least 2 in the room.
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As a manager of a small not for profit community centre that auspices an out of school hours care service I am struggling with the cost of transition to the new quality framework. Don’t get me wrong, I think that these services SHOULD be covered by the regulations but for a little service like ours the cost is going to be well over $2000 plus. NSW govt is not assisting in any way and it’s a case of pay up or close. Please consider these issues when making decisions about fee freezes. I can assure you there is no money being made in services such as ours. We pay our child care the award rate of less than $20 an hour and there is no way we can pay more even though we’d love to be able to pay them what they are worth.Thank you.
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As a manager of a small not for profit community centre that auspices an out of school hours care service I am struggling with the cost of transition to the new quality framework. Don’t get me wrong, I think that these services SHOULD be covered by the regulations but for a little service like ours the cost is going to be well over $2000 plus. NSW govt is not assisting in any way and it’s a case of pay up or close. Please consider these issues when making decisions about fee freezes. I can assure you there is no money being made in services such as ours. Thank you.
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Not sure if other cities have the same problems as Melbourne but council run childcare centres desperately need an audit on how they run their wait lists.
Not only are they lengthy (like everywhere!) but the best way to get a place in a reasonable time (and by reasonable I mean 12months which isn’t that reasonable) is to continually call the administrator. If you patiently wait until it is your turn at the top of the list, which I would have thought is the right thing to do by not hassling already busy staff, it is very unlikely you would ever get called and offered a place. It is so hard to plan to go back to work in such a climate of uncertainty.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of equity in the process which their should be, particularly for council centres. The private centres are pretty much the same.
As an aside, the childcare rebate has been a fantastic way for our family to afford to send out son (although I’d like to work less than I do we can’t afford it). Thank you!
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I work in the childcare industry and absolutely love it, but the pay is really getting me down. I run a room of 50 toddlers ( all in 1 week) and i have 8 educators to lead. Yet i still only get $23.45 an hour. Crap pay, when you see what I have to do day in day out. The expectations I have to live up to regarding the eylf and the pressure I feel running 8 staff and dealing with them day to day ( constant teaching, reassuring, especially about the eylf) not to mention still being available for the children, heir individual routines etc etc, I could go on and on. Yet I still get crap pay. I do more than most primary school teachers especially considering the children I educate can’t speak for themselves, can have behavioral issues, need toileting etc, but i still get paid sooo much less…..
Come on Julia! Help us get paid more! You should spend a day at my centre and really see what we do everyday, trust me, you will be exhausted at the end of the day!
Help us!
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I totally agree with you, more needs to be done!
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Very low pay & continuous pressure is the whole reason as a 4 year trained early childhood teacher, I left the industry to work in an office with heaps better pay & a lot less stress. Even though I love working with children the responsibility is not equal to the pay. School teachers are paid on average 30% more than their Early Childhood Teacher counterparts.
Thank you for your time.
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I work in the childcare industry which I love. I just wish the wages were reflective of all of the hard work! We educate,love,nuture and are responsible for the lives of these beautiful tiny human beings and the wages = just disgusting. Sorry, but $20 bucks on average an hour just doesn’t cut it!!
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Dear PM
My question is about care for a child.. Not child care per se
How do the police, centrelink, government and child protection look after the rights of a 16 year old with mental health issues?
Answer: Tell them that they have every right to leaving a loving home, not going to school, getting tattoos, living in an unsafe environment, refusing to see their parents when flown to hospital after a car crash and receiving 2k in government benefit lump sum to fund their at risk lifestyle. As I have no real say in my child’s welfare and have not had so for the last 12 months can I assume that one of the parties listed above will be prepared to take responsibility when the situation escalates beyond repair?
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When are child care workers going to be paid in relation to their importance? It is such an important time in a chids life, you won’t attract more quality carers if you don’t pay them their worth. I’m a former child care worker, it’s a stressful job and I can earn more money working at a checkout!
That’s not right!
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My question is how long will it take for child care educators to get paid the extra wages once the campain has been won? will it be straight away or will we be waiting?
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My question is how long will it take for child care educators to get paid the extra wages once the campain has been won?
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Why should my tax money go to child care, it’s there choice to send them, leave kids had home or with grand kids like they did many years ago, road, hospital, school, all need money, to much money like baby bonus is wasted, same as paid leave
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Times are different these days. There’s a recognition of the need to have women in the workforce. If we had an unemployment rate of 8%+ it may be different, but with low unemployment it makes economic sense for the govt to support women workers.
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Please place more money into early childhood education placements. Children are coming to school less able to do basic skills or socialise. This impacts on the quality of learning children receive at school.
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Sorry Matthew- it seems that you missed out on one of the most important lessons we Early Childhood Educators work hard to instill in our children; ‘Sharing is Caring!’
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Don’t forget spelling, grammar and proper sentence construction – he apparently seemed to miss out on those lessons during the course of his schooling as well
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Australian’s have the least money to spend after mortgage in OECD. Why is childcare so expensive?
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Can someone please explain how child care rebates work? I’ve had 2 in daycare for 2 years and pay the centre approx $600 a week. Can I get some $$$ back? I didn’t know! How? Sorry to go off tangent…..
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You go to centrelink and you can get a child care bennifit. It is means tested. And in some cases you also get child care rebate. Talk to your centre as well. Sadly you won’t get paid back money though.
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Everyone is entitled to the 50 per cent rebate regardless of their income and it’s not means tested so u r missing out big time! Go to centrelink ASAP
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There are so many wonderful, detailed questions being posted here! As a mum of two kids under four years old I will be watching the responses with interest. Thank you so much Ms Gillard for taking time to respond in this forum which is accessible to such a large proportion of relevant people (and available after hours and without babysitting being required)!
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Prime Minister,
Do you believe that early childhood educators deserve professional wages? I have worked in the Early Childhood sector for over 10 years, and it is heartbreaking to see passionate, committed educators leave the sector because they want to do the same things every Australian wants to do – get a mortgage, have a family. We are losing exactly the people we need to educate and care for the under-5s, and we’re doing it because as a nation we don’t feel they’re worth it. They’re only babysitters. Your government has pushed the sector forward with the National Quality Agenda, and I for one think they are the right direction. We need to be more professional, more accountable. But we need to be respected. I shouldn’t have to choose to leave the sector I love just so I can afford to have a fair go. We are counting on you to step up for the educators around the country who are doing all the hard yards in the interests of children, families and your Government. WE are the ones who have to implement your decisions. The least we deserve is a fair deal. Thank you, Prime Minister.
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There are many families in Australia who first discover their child may have developmental delays or difficulties when they enter childcare. What support will be given to childcare workers to enable them to give these children the specific intervention required for the best possible start at school?
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@JuliaGillard Child care 4 born in AU(parents are not citizens nor PR hold) is 2 ” expensive ” as there is no child support for the parents.
she is little Oz girl.
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