Child care costs to skyrocket under government’s early start plan
Rockliff warned but failed to act to protect child care industry or parents
Elitist child care system will emerge beyond the reach of family budgets
Tasmanian mums and dads will face extraordinary increases in daily child care fees in the fallout of the Hodgman Liberal Government’s deeply flawed early school start plan.
Shadow Education Minister Michelle O’Byrne said families in areas such as Ravenswood in Launceston and Bridgewater in Tasmania’s south would see costs almost double as the child care industry faced dramatic reductions in enrolments of about 25 per cent as a consequence of the unnecessary move to send very young children into classrooms.
“This is a serious consequence of Jeremy Rockliff’s ill-advised school age plan that we have been warning him about for some time now but he has declined to listen,” Ms O’Byrne said.
“But now the Minister needs to explain to parents why their child care costs will skyrocket.
“Modelling carried out by the Discovery Early Learning Centres group which operates child care centres throughout Tasmania shows that for those communities who will not completely lose access as centres close, families will face unaffordable increases.
“The modelling shows in areas like Ravenswood that will mean the fee per child per day will increase from $88.50 to $160.
“In Bridgewater, families will see an increase in fees per child per day from $86.50 to $155.
“Those sort of exorbitant but unavoidable increases under the Hodgman Government’s plan take child care well out of the reach of the average Tasmanian family.
”It will see parents forced to give up work or study as child care becomes beyond their reach.
“All that has been created in Tasmania by forcing parents to send three-and-a-half years olds to school is an elitist system where child care will now become a luxury.”
Michelle O’Byrne MP Deputy Labor Leader Shadow Education Minister
