The Queensland Government in Australia has introduced new subsidies to help families with the costs of kindergarten (kindy) and childcare expenses. The subsidies aim to make these services more affordable and accessible for families in the state. Under the new scheme, families with a household income of less than $80,000 will receive free kindy for their children. Families with a household income between $80,000 and $100,000 will receive a subsidy of $2,500 per child. Additionally, families earning up to $160,000 will receive a subsidy of $2,000 per child. The government hopes that these measures will ease the financial burden on families and encourage more children to attend kindy and childcare facilities.
As a childcare worker, the subsidies are killing us. We’re thrown to the rocks as the parents aren’t affected and the businesses just raise prices over the next 2-3 years to gain extra profit, so that the next government can raise the CCS and they can raise their fees again.
Meanwhile our wages are fucked and not getting better, and the government is more concerned about throwing more money at private companies meaning there’s a huge shortage of staff and where there is staff the quality is pathetic because there’s no knowledge built up from experience because 99% leave the industry by year 2.
The only workable solution is to make early childhood public like we do with primary and tertiary.