Putting a Price on Our Children

(5 of 5)
Better wages for carers mean rising fees for parents, and high on the wish list of many families is a boost in the federal government's Child Care Benefit, which it pays directly to parents' chosen service. Because it's means-tested, for families like midwife Susie's the return - in her case "about $A5 a week" - can feel hardly worth the paperwork. Industry bodies are also arguing for increased government subsidies to address the shortage of places for very young children; and numerous submissions to the government's Balancing Work and Family Inquiry, due to report later this year, have lobbied for child-care expenses to be made tax deductible. Jackie Kelly advocates a different approach, with fringe benefits tax reform, and incentives for employers to provide child care: "We have to start focusing on the workplace and taking the roadblocks away from employers." Some companies, like mining and chemicals giant Orica, aren't waiting for government-led reform. For staff at its Melbourne headquarters, Orica pays $A14,000 a year to a nearby child-care center for priority access to seven full-time places on a waiting list that can otherwise stretch two years. With 600 employees in that office alone, it's only a partial solution, admits human resources manager David McKinnon, but keeping employees with young children happy makes good business sense: "The benefit we get back is probably tenfold." Despite the scheme's success, though, it's unlikely Orica will extend it to other offices or provide on-site care, says McKinnon: "There is a philosophical debate - is it the role of employers to provide child-care facilities? Is it core business?"

Child care's rife with such brain-teasers: How much should we have? And who should pay for it? John Howard says his government provides "an enormous amount of support - but no country can afford free child care." Those urging reform aren't calling for that just yet, but M.P. Kelly is among those expecting big things in May's Budget: "The government knows it can do more in child care." When lobbyist Romeril began working in child care five years ago, she found many colleagues gloomy about the prospects for change. But as the issue gains momentum, she says, there's a sense "that policy makers are recognizing that child care is here to stay." Perhaps they're seeing that when they sketch a family like Susie's, something in the picture still isn't right.