Sat Mar 19

Full response from a spokeswoman for Kate Ellis

Written by The Conversation Contributor

In relation to this FactCheck on the cost of child care, a spokeswoman for Labor’s shadow minister for early education, Kate Ellis, sent the following:

In terms of data showing that costs are higher under the Liberals than they were under Labor – the following should be of use:

Most recent out of pocket costs under the Liberals from the March 2015 quarterly child care report:

Last out of pocket costs from the Labor Government:

Note – out of pocket costs are only updated in the March report of each year.

As you’ll see – there’s a marked difference in the out-of-pocket percentages at all income brackets which results in a significant out of pocket difference for the time period:

Provided by spokeswoman for Kate Ellis

The Liberals promised to make child care more affordable. This data shows that they simply haven’t done that.

In terms of the National Quality Framework, we’ve never shirked away from the fact that quality care costs money, but the payoff is critical to early childhood education. When we look at the economic benefits of engaging children in early childhood education, those benefits only flow from engaging them in quality early childhood education.

In terms of modelling the fee impacts of the National Quality Framework – the first point to note is that around 47% of the increase in fees in eligible services are borne by the Australian Government. In the 2014 calendar year, the fee increase attributable to the NQF was around 3.47 per day – of which parents would have, on average, paid 53%:

Regulation Impact Statement for Early Childhood Education and Care Quality Reforms COAG Decision RIS December 2009

So while changes under the National Quality Framework play a role, they are not the only factor. And Labor thinks quality in early education is critically important.

The Shadow Minister’s statement was a direct comparison between what the Government promised families, and what has happened. Was it fair of the Liberals to make this promise to families at the last election?