Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Scullion, Minister for Community Services. Is the minister aware that analysis by ANZ chief economist Saul Eslake has shown that the cost of child care has risen by 58.6 per cent since July 2000? Hasn’t the rapidly rising cost of child care outstripped health and education costs over that period? Didn’t Mr Eslake conclude that the average family’s ability to afford child care has ‘decreased substantially’ in the last five years? Don’t these findings reflect the fact that 28 per cent of carers are likely to leave the workforce in the future in order to reduce childcare costs? Don’t these findings show that under the Howard government childcare costs are an increasing financial pressure on families?