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Political blame game over childcare costs

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 22 Juni 2014 | 15.03

Childcare costs have rocketed 150 per cent in the past decade, a report shows. Source: AAP

WORKING mothers are losing 60 cents of each dollar they earn to rising childcare costs but Australia's politicians haven't found a way to ease the situation for now.

INSTEAD they're blaming each other for the worsening crisis in childcare affordability.

Childcare costs have skyrocketed 150 per cent in the past decade, with only electricity and tobacco prices rising at a faster rate, a new report claims.Parents returning to full-time work after having a child can now expect to lose up to 60 per cent of their gross income to childcare fees, loss of benefits and higher income tax rates.Mums from low income families who return to full-time work may take home as little as $4.55 an hour, the research from financial services firm AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling found.Assistant education minister Sussan Ley regularly meets women juggling childcare with returning to work."There is crisis and struggle and desperation when you talk to mums who just don't know what to do with the work-family balance," she told reporters in Melbourne."It's not fair for families to have to live within a system that is as unsustainable as the one that Labor has left us with."The Productivity Commission is due to deliver its initial report on childcare to the government next month and the final version in October.Ms Ley expects the government will have some solutions for parents in early 2015.But the opposition says the government can do one thing to help right now: abandon plans to freeze childcare payments."They cannot justify standing up and attacking low and middle income families time and time again and this report shows that Australia can't afford it," opposition childcare spokeswoman Kate Ellis said.Labor was worried many women wouldn't return to the workforce after having children because of the difficulty of finding and paying for childcare.The AMP-NATSEM report said 630,000 Australian families pay for "long day" childcare, which can cost up to $170 a day per child.The national average childcare fee has risen 150 per cent since 2004. Childcare generally costs more in cities compared to regional areas and more in wealthier suburbs than less affluent areas.Fees have risen faster than petrol, education and healthcare costs.While the number of children in childcare has risen steadily over the past decade, about 60 per cent of children from working families are still cared for by grandparents, relatives or friends.

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Newman says ALP wrong on TAFE fee rises

QUEENSLAND'S premier has accused the opposition of playing Nostradamus over TAFE fee increases.

LITERACY and numeracy fees for disability pensioners have risen from $140 to $800 while tuition fees for a diploma in marketing have increased from $2400 to $6000, Labor says.

It predicts that fees will go up even more as previously subsidised courses incur full fees and a new Queensland Training Assets Management Authority makes TAFE campuses pay full commercial rent.But the Liberal National government insists there is no link between course costs and infrastructure arrangements.Premier Campbell Newman said hefty TAFE fee increases would be unlikely when asked about Labor's predictions."It's interesting to see they're playing Nostradamus," he told reporters on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday."I don't believe that's the case."TAFE is being re-focused so it meets the needs of employers so we create jobs."Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said the government had a secret agenda, after Labor uncovered leaked TAFE documents which say "costs could increase again for the start" of the first semester in 2015.They are answers to student questions and comments such as, "Are costs likely to increase next year?" and "I feel ripped off"."We've now heard of secret plans where TAFE fees are going to be skyrocketing in this state," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek insists fees aren't actually rising, with a spokeswoman explaining in a background statement to AAP that subsidies were being reduced to some courses that didn't align with skills shortage areas.

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Qld premier coy on chief justice pick

QUEENSLAND'S premier has held his first media conference in five days, but was coy when questioned about his government's controversial selection of Tim Carmody as the state's new chief justice.

SINCE Campbell Newman last stood before reporters, Judge Carmody's controversial addition to the Supreme Court has been approved by the state's governor.

Judge Carmody's meteoric rise has divided the judiciary, with critics arguing he's too inexperienced and too close to the government.But Mr Newman has declined to offer any new comment on the appointment of Judge Carmody, even though Court of Appeal justice John Muir has joined senior legal figures in slamming the appointment process."Go back to what I've said when I announced it about a week and a half ago," Mr Newman told reporters on the Sunshine Coast."You've got my comments."Late last week, Governor Penelope Wensley issued writs for the July 19 Stafford by-election, where the ruling Liberal National Party is considered the underdog despite its seven per cent margin.Asked why the media wasn't invited to that event, Mr Newman pointed to his June 5 speech to parliament."The announcement was made in parliament, look at the record," Mr Newman said, adding media weren't usually invited for by-election declarations."I've held many press conferences since I made the announcement in parliament."Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk accused the premier of hiding from voters during the past week, with Mr Newman's last media conference on Tuesday in Mount Isa."The premier has been in hiding now for over a week, afraid to front the music, afraid to talk to people in this state," she told reporters in Brisbane.The premier was on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday holding a community cabinet in Maroochydore, which is also in Clive Palmer's federal seat of Fairfax.A cabinet meeting is being held in the same beachside suburb on Monday.It would come three days after Mr Palmer lodged a defamation writ against Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney in the Supreme Court, after he alleged on the ABC that the mining tycoon had sought special favours for his Waratah Coal interests in the Galilee Basin in 2012.Mr Palmer is also suing Mr Newman for defamation after the premier claimed that he tried to "buy" the Queensland government.

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GG visits Ord irrigation scheme

GOVERNOR-GENERAL Sir Peter Cosgrove is hoping to shine a light on economic opportunities in agriculture and progress being made on indigenous issues during a tour of northern Australia.

SIR Peter said the second phase of the Ord irrigation scheme near Kununurra was beginning to come to fruition, largely due to Chinese investment.

"It's now possible to see, not just its future potential, but its present importance," he told reporters after a tour of the Ord Stage Two Development on Sunday."I hope that all the negotiations for the Ord River project phase two can continue and we can see waving fields of sugar, sorghum and other crops in this beautifully irrigated part of Australia."He said the area around Kununurra in north Western Australia could produce life saving food for international markets.Sir Peter is half way through a five day tour of the Northern Territory and north Western Australia, taking in the towns of Katherine, Kununurra and Wyndham as well as remote areas."I shine a light. I turn up to places where there is wonderful endeavour and it may not necessarily be solely economic, it might be more on social development or amenity for younger Australians," he said."Or it might be to watch indigenous Australians who, whilst acknowledging that there is a gap to be closed, are working hard with specific programs to enhance indigenous health and to extend life expectation, to reduce infant illnesses and keep kids in school."After planting a tree with Girl Guides and chatting to volunteers on Sunday morning he said regional communities such as Kununurra had a strong volunteering spirit."What I like about rural and regional Australia, the more remote in some ways the better, is you'll see the strength and interaction of communities," he said."In towns in rural and regional Australia you see the interaction up close."Sir Peter, also visited the Kimberley squadron of the Australian army's Norforce reserve unit."I've got a special place, I always will have a special place in my heart for people who put their country's uniform on. Military, navy, army and airforce, but police, SES, anybody who provides a sense of service before self who takes on burdens that are inconvenient and stressful and sometimes hazardous to help other people."However, Sir Peter, who was commander of defence forces when Australia deployed troops to Iraq 11 years ago, declined to comment on how he felt about a fresh batch of troops being sent to Baghdad."On those sort of issues which are contemporary I would say that's a matter for the government."Defence has sent a small unit of Australian Defence Force personnel to Baghdad to bolster security at the Australian embassy.In coming days Sir Peter will visit the TFS Sandalwood plantations, indigenous groups, schools and attend a football training session at the Clontarf Foundation, of which he is patron.

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