Cheaper childcare 🙌! Here’s why it makes good economic sense: #budgetreply 👇
1/Australia has some of the highest out-of-pocket childcare costs in the developed world
2/When combined with tax and welfare clawback, childcare costs mean that full time work for the primary carer is often financially fruitless (would you work your fifth day for free?) 
3/This impacts workforce participation (particularly for mothers): a typical Australian woman with a young child is employed 2-3 days a week much less than women in other countries
4/ Parents agree that the high cost of childcare is the biggest barrier to working more
4/ The result: as massive lifetime earnings ‘gulf’ between men and women with children
5/ Making childcare cheaper creates more choice for families about how much to work
6/ Doing it now would be good for the recovery: families that have lost jobs or hours are withdrawing their children from care because they can't afford it. This is bad for children and will impact the ability of parents (particularly mothers) to get back into work
7/ It’s also an important long-term reform: we estimate that higher workforce participation from parents will increase economic activity by more than double the spend.
8/ And that’s before we get to the early learning benefits….
9/ That’s why I am enthusiastic about anything that makes childcare cheaper
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