Add your voice: Make childcare free
Providing free childcare is vital for the economic recovery
Quality and affordable childcare is a vital for preserving jobs and eventually reopening the economy. We need the Government to:
- Provide permanently free universal, high quality childcare
- Ensure early childhood educators are securely employed and fairly paid
- Invest in construction of new high quality, publicly funded non-profit facilities
- Fund universal access to 15 hours of preschool for three and four year olds
Why is this important?
Women will be able to return to work
Another 893,000 women would be in the workforce if they were able to participate at the same rate as men. Even if just half that number were supported to get into work, they would earn an extra $26 billion each year.
Better education benefits for children
Early childhood education provides children with significant educational benefits – helping to improve their employment, income and health outcomes later in life.
There’d be a stimulus boost to the economy
The provision of appropriately funded, free childcare would boost the disposable income of households with young children and provide an effective form of stimulus to consumer spending and, in turn, overall demand in the economy.