January 6, 2004

Fed Govt tells public: pay for your own childcare

Here's proof it's the political silly season:
    "I think for a lot of Australians, they might have to pay a bit more to acknowledge that child-care workers are looking after the most precious resource we have," he [Larry Anthony, Children and Youth Affairs Minister] told The Age.

    "(Parents) are quite happy to pay $70 an hour to a plumber, but not so keen on paying a couple of dollars an hour for child care."

    (see full article)

Is he saying that people call their plumber daily, just as they use child care daily? Or has he chosen a really, really stupid analogy? Methinks it's the latter.

Much was made of the govts 'baby bonus' scheme in the runup to the last election but I read something the other day that said very few families were able to take advantage of it because of the complicated rules associated with claiming it. Then the govt declined the opportunity to embrace paid maternity leave. Why does this government have such a problem with families having children? Posted by david at January 6, 2004 1:16 PM