The cost of childcare for families in Rockingham and Kwinana is continuing to rise much faster than the national average and well above the rate of inflation, according to the Federal Government’s latest data.

The figures published by the Department of Education show childcare fees jumped by 4.5 per cent nationally over the previous 12 months, while Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the same period rose just 2.2 per cent.

Fees in Rockingham rose by 5.8 per cent during that period, while fees in Kwinana were up 5.4 per cent.

These figures show the Child Care Subsidy support, which is indexed to the CPI, is failing to keep up with out-of-control fee increases.

Nationally, childcare fees have soared by 35.9 per cent since the election of the Liberal Government in 2013.

The Morrison Government gave the green light to these large fee increases at the end of September. As a result, families across the Brand electorate will likely again be hit by soaring fee increases – this time in the middle of a recession.

This data confirms urgent action must be taken to provide relief for Australian families who are being crippled by soaring childcare fees.

This month, Labor announced that an Albanese Labor Government would introduce the Working Family Childcare Boost to cut child care fees and put more money into the pockets of working families, straight away.
 
Childcare fees in Australia are some of the highest in the world. Under this plan, Labor will:

• Scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap which often sees women losing money from an extra day’s work;
• Lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent; and
• Increase childcare subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than $530,000. 

This means 97 per cent of all families in the system will save between $600 to $2,900 a year. No family will be worse off.
 
Importantly, Labor will keep working to fix Australia’s broken childcare system, which currently locks out more than 100,000 families because they just can’t afford it.
 
Scott Morrison’s childcare system has failed families in Brand. It has failed to keep a lid on out-of-pocket costs, and it has failed to support working parents, particularly women, to work full time or increase their hours.