Matt Grudnoff
Senior Economist

Childcare has barely rated a mention from the two major parties this election campaign. That’s a shame because childcare doesn’t just improve children’s educational and development outcomes, it can also grow the economy.

Australia Institute research shows that affordable access to high quality early childhood education and care could increase the size of the economy by $168 billion and allow the government to collect an additional $48 billion in revenue.

But the Australian childcare system needs more than just extra funding. We also need to change how it is delivered. Currently more than half of Australia’s childcare is delivered by for profit providers.

Parents have seen government subsidies, that are designed to make childcare more affordable, gobbled up by increased fees. And the higher prices don’t translate to better care.

For-profit providers on average do worse than not-for-profit and state-owned providers when it comes to metrics like educational practice, children’s health and safety and staffing arrangements.

But these problems can be solved. We already have a ready-made solution: treat early childhood education in the same way we treat public schools.

Imagine if government run childcare centres were as common as primary schools. Any parent, if they wanted to, could send their child to the local childcare centre. These centres, where practical, could be co-located with primary schools.

Australia deserves a better childcare system and it’s a shame that the major parties have largely ignored the issue this campaign.