SMH - Nanny subsidy pilot scheme to start in January 2016 to help parents who can't access mainstream childcare services- 2nd May 2015
For hundreds of thousands of Australian families, the daily wrestle between work commitments and family life is Sisyphean? in its dimensions. Childcare is expensive, and hard to get. Even though the federal government spends $7 billion a year on early childhood services, still there are huge numbers of parents who can’t find childcare at a location, price, quality or hours they need, the Productivity Commission reports. The most flexible option, nannies, has always been far beyond the reach of ordinary workers. With a going rate of $20 to $30 an hour, a nanny can quickly cost more than $1000 a week, without the taxpayer assistance that goes to other childcare. As such, a nanny has in Australia seemed a luxury only the very wealthy could afford.