Politics & Council
21 June, 2023
What about the other 4% of families?
THERE was an advertisement in a newspaper at the weekend. A local member of Parliament selling the message that 96 per cent of families would be better off under her government’s cheaper child care plan. One has to be pleased that some people will...
THERE was an advertisement in a newspaper at the weekend. A local member of Parliament selling the message that 96 per cent of families would be better off under her government’s cheaper child care plan.
One has to be pleased that some people will have access to cheaper child care. Less than 30 minutes from the office of that particular MP, the child care desert of Loddon starts - a desert that was identified by young mothers and given prominence in the early months of your local Loddon Herald being first published.
The voice of Loddon families has been projected with an urgency that was given momentum when a report confirmed that locally, we are the only total child care desert in Victoria.
Governments can offer all the rebates and reductions they like, but such policies are of no use if there is no local access.
Again this week, the Loddon Herald has devoted considerable space highlighting the challenges, and annoyance of families, waiting for promises to materialise and action to replace words on child care across the Loddon.
They are in the remaining four per cent of people without child care. Their inability to fully participate in the workforce can hamper vocational pathways, earnings and through that the local economy.
Governments - whether state or federal - should come up with models for today, not rolling out a centre is another two, three or five years.
The stories of Loddon young mothers are powerful. As I’ve written before, there are already solutions ... they’re still waiting on government action.
- CHRIS EARL