Obviously the cost of childcare is one of those obstacles.
Posted by Aidan.

Yes Aidan & who is responsible for that? Remember the left having campaigns for years to increase the pay of child minders. Hell they even tried to change the description of child care to early education, & introduced degrees in baby minding, by another name of course.

Even the blind Freddies should have seen where it was going, but not the left. They always need the "unexpected" disastrous result of their stupidity to hit them in the face, & even then deny it was their fault.

It is just so depressing to think we might see this dill in the lodge, pity it is only a little less depressing that Morrison might be returned. Even more depressing the fact that with our damn fool compulsory voting, & even worse the preferential system, there is no chance that we won't get one of them.

How much more proof do some mutts need before they click that raising wages solves nothing, on the contrary !
More value for money is what's needed !

Nice try, Hasbeen, but if pay rates had continued to stay ridiculously low, there'd be the kind of problem we're seeing in age care, with place availability becoming an even bigger obstacle despite inadequate service quality.

If you really want to assign blame to a government, you should go with the one that favoured an overwhelmingly commercial childcare industry in the first place. I think that was Howard's first term, though I'm not entirely sure - it could even have been Keating.

And although I expect you to remain unconvinced, the importance of early childhood education is increasingly recognised. European studies have repeatedly shown it does lead to substantially improved outcomes in school. So it's not just about enabling parents to go out and work, though of course that does remain an important objective.

We've had dills in the lodge for so long it's unremarkable, and I think the current one remaining would be the worst outcome. But the preferential system is unequivocally a good thing - firstly it generally favours small parties because the big ones prefer to direct preferences to the small parties over each other. Secondly it encourages small parties and independents to run, knowing that doing so won't harm their cause by preventing their supporters from determining the outcome.

Aiden said "And although I expect you to remain unconvinced, the importance of early childhood education is increasingly recognised. European studies have repeatedly shown it does lead to substantially improved outcomes in school. So it's not just about enabling parents to go out and work, though of course that does remain an important objective."

Answer- That's why women used to stay home and look after the children. Personally if the government repackaged and published the same early childhood notes for parents rather than teachers/ minders then then both the cost and the education problems could potentially be solved- open education is becoming very popular. Both parents going to work have interesting social effects- it tends to push up housing prices caused both by the choices that are opened up and makes couples less likely to work through problems rather than working them through as well as an increase in the money that couples hold increases demand for a more constant supply of housing- also if divorce occurs two homes rather than one is now required. In effect allowing both parents to work probably causes more scarcity and inflation and hardship in the community than if only one parent worked- it also causes more turbulence in the relationships in the community leading to more mental illness- etc.

Also men and women in the same uncontrolled environment opens the potential for the instability caused by infidelity.

Last time under Labor childcare costs increased by nearly 65%? Is Labor going to undo its policies that increased the cost or are they just going to throw taxpayer money at it?

I guess Albozo will do the latter.

Childcare is so important and if a different funding
model would be provided by the federal government it
could mean so much for Australian families and the
economy.

Today many people regardless of where they live or their
politics are now realising that early childhood services
are actually a critical piece of social and economic
infrastructure. Childhood services support parents to
contribute to our society and to our economy in
meaningful ways and of course it provided children with
the early education they need to get the best start.

Today, two incomes are necessary for most people.
Past events have caused many people to question old
assumptions, and to value things we previously took for
granted.

It will be interesting to see which party can come up with
the best policies and whether they will really be implemented
or just simply promised to win an election.

As the old adage tells us - no matter who you vote for -
you'll always end up getting a politician. We can only hope
that the ones in leadership positions do have the vision
and are able to take action for the betterment of all our
futures. Hope springs eternal.