Child care 8.7% cheaper

The latest CPI figures are further evidence that the Coalition Government’s policies are making child care affordable for hundreds of thousands of Australian families.

The Minister for Community Services, Larry Anthony, said it was no surprise that the figures show that the cost of child care has dropped by 8.7% since 1 July 2000.

“The introduction of the Child Care Benefit has been instrumental in reducing the cost of child care.

“We are not resting on our record of improved affordability over the last year. Families received a further 5.8% increase in assistance from 1 July this year, as a result of indexation of the Child Care Benefit.

“The Coalition Government has spent more than $4.3 billion since 1997 – a
30 per cent more than Labor’s last four years in office.

“We have allocated a massive $6 billion to child care over the next four years – this is an unprecedented commitment to spending on child care.

“More families than ever are using child care with around 700,000 children in care.”

“Due to our record spending on child care since 1996, there are 2,000 more child care services providing more than 150,000 additional places.

“The Opposition constantly claims that the cost of child care has risen as a result of the GST. It is time they came clean and acknowledge that the Coalition has got it right.

“We are committed to providing affordable and flexible child care to give more choice to Australian families,” Mr Anthony said.