Australia’s childcare system in need of a ‘rethink’

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has proposed a “rethink” of Australia’s childcare system. The Prime Minister has announced a plan to offer guaranteed subsidised childcare for three days per week, with parents no longer required to meet an activity test. “The experience over the past decade is every few years, we chuck a few more billion dollars into childcare subsidies,” Mr Canavan told Sky News host Peta Credlin. “Invariably, what happens is that childcare centres increase their cost base ... it doesn’t end up cheaper for parents – they end up paying just as much, if not more – and then there is another demand and the cycle begins for more government incentives to offset that.”