Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has this morning labelled Labor’s plan to ensure that childcare is available for low- and middle-income families ‘communist’.
The plan, which would prevent the most vulnerable families in Australia from being priced out of care for their children and ensure that it is affordable for all families, was attacked by the Minister because it would use taxpayer funds to provide an essential service.
Mr Tehan has demonstrated the Morrison Government’s complete inability to comprehend the difficulties facing working people in Australia.
The cost of childcare has been increasing at a rate much greater than inflation under the Morrison Government and action is needed to ensure that it remains available for all Australian families.
Unaffordable childcare has a disproportionate impact on women, who shoulder the vast majority of caring responsibilities.
The alternative being proposed by the Morrison Government and Mr Tehan is that families which earn less than a third of his parliamentary salary would simply be unable to afford quality care for their children.
As stated by ACTU President Michele O’Neil:
“No one should be priced out of access to quality childcare. But this is the world that the Morrison Government has created. Childcare is now out of reach for many Australian families.
“Mr Tehan is campaigning against providing an essential service to his constituents. He would rather families fall into poverty than provide this service to them.
“This Government is so blinded by ideology they are happy for childcare to become an unaffordable luxury. Australians deserve better than this.
“We need a government which is committed to improving quality of life for working people, not sitting back and watching as working people slide into poverty. We have to change the government.
“Childcare should be affordable for everyone, and the workers who care for our children should have their skills recognised and be well paid.”
