Who's Minding the Baby Now? Child Care Under the Howard Government

Abstract

Access to affordable, quality child care is recognised as an important determinant of women's participation in paid employment. The choice of child care is dependent on the mix of funding levels and patterns, availability of services, and patterns of working hours and income. This article analyses the changes in funding and availability of formal child care in the 1990s and concludes that policy changes implemented under the Howard Government have impacted on the affordability of and access to child care services, and have subtly altered the roles and responsibilities of parents and providers. The increased cost of child care, the altered composition of care provision, and the change in the manner in which assistance is delivered shifts the focus onto parents as workers negotiating child care clauses in enterprise agreements. While the composition of working hours has changed there has been very little activity by way of introducing assistance with child care through enterprise bargaining. A review of policy changes in the area of family and children's services suggests at best inconsistencies in the Government's assistance offered to working and nonworking women and at worst policies that will disadvantage working women via higher fees for formal child care.