NFAW Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care

The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) is dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of Australian women, including in intellectual, cultural, political, social, economic, legal, industrial and domestic spheres, and ensuring that the aims and ideals of the women’s movement and its collective wisdom are handed on to new generations of women. The NFAW is a feminist organisation, independent of party politics and working in partnership with other women’s organisations.

Key points

The NFAW supports measures that improve the affordability, accessibility and qualityof early childhood education and care (ECEC). In particular, we advocate for:

• better pay and supply of ECEC educators
• better access to ECEC, especially for families living in disadvantaged, regional or remote areas of Australia, including more outside school hours and vacation care places
• children’s access to two years of preschool/kindergarten before school
• more affordable ECEC for families
• moving to a free, universal system of ECEC and support for early childhood development.

In NFAW’s Gender Lens on the Budget 2022-23 welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment of $4.7 billion over four years from 2022-23 to make ECEC more affordable for families and reduce barriers to women’s workforce participation. From July 2023 the Child Care Subsidy will increase from 85per cent to 90per cent for families with a combined income of less than $80,000. The smoother taper in the subsidy is also expected to benefit more families, including those earning up to a new threshold of $530,000combined family income per annum.

In spite of these promising developments, we are concerned that the complexity of Australia’sECEC system, persistent workforce shortages, lack of affordability and access to ECEC places for families are key barriers and disincentives for women’s workforce participation and human capital development.

The NFAW supports the Productivity Commission’s investigation of moving to a universal 90 per cent subsidy for all families. While we recognise the need for a progressive system of support for families accessing subsidised ECEC in the short and medium term (with more support provided to those who need it most), we support the goal of universal, freeECEC for all children in the longer term. This commitment should be part of a 10-15 year productivity agenda for long-term social and economic well-being across Australia, including measures to support early child development and family well-being under the Government’s proposed Early Childhood Strategy.

 

 

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