Oh help me nanny!
Share this Article
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Stumble
RedditAuthor:
Carmen Michael
Tags:
childcare childcare system election liberal motherhood mothers nanny care nanny rebate nanny share paddington SDN rebate scarlett johannson the nanny diaries tony abbott working mothers working parentsIt’s time to take decisive action on childcare. Bring back the nanny by rebating the expense.
When my daughter was less than six weeks old, I made the obligatory rounds of the childcare centres in my locale. Things looked grim.
‘‘She should have been registered six months ago,’’ one woman said apologetically (presumably as a four-month-old foetus).
At the childcare centre at my work, there were 300 people in the queue before me. Another said not to bother calling again until she was three.
Unless you knew someone, already had a child in care, had exceptional circumstances (single mother for example) or just knew how to ruthlessly monster people into getting what you wanted, there was no childcare.
Eventually, we cobbled together a patchwork solution with the help of family that cost nearly half my take home pay packet and a lot of stress.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s decision to consider a rebate for hiring a nanny if the Coalition wins office, reported in the Sun-Herald, could not have come at a better time for Australian parents facing our diabolically inadequate childcare system.
Quite simply, there is a market failure in the care of children under two years old and a shaky market at best between two and three.
Part of the problem is tight regulation – undoubtedly necessary to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable treasures, but which comes at a cost. Complying with 4:1 “adult to child” ratios and stringent health and safety requirements have made childcare an unattractive investment proposition.
Some social conservatives would say women should really stay at home. Only that’s not a solution for anyone in the modern world, except those who are not really part of it anyway – hippies, heiresses, wives of the super rich and the catatonically unambitious.
Not many women could or would take a five-year break from their careers and the statistics bear me out. Women now make up 45 per cent of the workforce and the economy benefits from a society in which workplace participation remains high. But despite these demographic shifts Australia’s social infrastructure remains stuck in the 1950s, especially when we compare ourselves with countries such as Germany.
‘‘In Africa, it takes a village to raise a child. But for the tribe of the Upper East Side (of New York), it takes just one person…,” said the nanny played by Scarlet Johansson in the film Nanny Diaries.
She looks after a super rich woman who ‘‘neither mothers nor works’’. But most people who depend on nannies in Sydney are ordinary working types who simply have no other solution.
At present, the government offers a 50 per cent rebate on out of pocket child care expenses. If a similar system could be devised for the cost of hiring a nanny, pressure on the childcare system would ease and more children would be looked after in their home.
True, all Mr Abbott has promised is a Productivity Commission inquiry, and any scheme would be expensive.
But the fact he has made the proposal at all shows how desperate the electorate is to find workable solutions to childcare shortages.
For critics of the cost, there is a silver lining to Abbott’s proposal. Tax evasion due to “cash in hand” nannies is rife – in Britain, for example, it is estimated by the Financial Times to cost the Government 57 million pounds per annum.
A rebate here would offer greater incentive to bring nannies into the tax and workplace relations systems and add to general revenue.
It would also tackle a generally unmentioned concern about nannies; that it is a demeaning profession, a job if not for servants then for the unskilled and powerless. This is a tricky issue, especially for the Labor Party.
No one would be unwise enough to claim nannies in Australia are not exploited by greedy employers, but there is something to be said for a rebate from both a taxation and industrial perspective.
There’s no question what is the childcare solution of choice for high profile working mothers in political parties on the Left. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young has her nanny travel with her while Nicola Roxon and Tanya Plibersek have said they use nannies to balance the irregular and unpredictable hours of their lives.
Abbott’s idea is an attractive one that should be seriously considered as a different solution to our impasse over childcare. It may not be a silver bullet but it will certainly empower parents.
This article was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 27 March 2012.
Get The Rival’s fresh look at Australian news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to The Rival for opinion, commentary and analysis now.
About Carmen Michael
Carmen Michael is an author and a journalist. Her book Chasing Bohemia was published in 2007 by Scribe Publications.
9:00 am
Well done. This needs to be aired. Childcare facilities are full up and this could be a great help to new Mums
4:06 pm
“hippies, heiresses, wives of the super rich and the catatonically unambitious”. How insulting to women such as my wonderful wife. I have always supported a woman’s right to work or not work as they so choose. My wife has chosen both at various times during our parenting. Why are women so vindictive and aggressive against their sisters who take a different position on this issue? You have made a choice to work which I am happy to respect, so why must you denigrate women such as my wife who chose the opposite? Any one who knows my wife would say that she is empowered and makes her own choices so why does some like you want to bring her down?
4:16 pm
As a woman of a certain age with younger children, I do not fall into any of the categories ‘hippies, heiresses, wives of the super rich and the catatonically unambitious’, and yet I agree with much of what is said here. Bear in mind that many women take part-time or lower level jobs on returning to work as they are NOT catatonically unambitious – but need to work flexibly to meet their personal and financial needs whilst the littlies gain independence. On returning to ‘real’ work, there is discrimination as well as the stresses of sourcing decent childcare – a double whammy even the great Abbott will be hard pressed to resolve.
6:40 pm
In response to those who think I have typecast stay at home mothers, I hope there are plenty of women who don’t fit into the categories I listed- I chose to illustrate in a colourful way a category of people who have elected NOT to be part of the modern world (perhaps wisely).
But the truth is this article has nothing to do with stay at home mothers or part time workers (I am one myself). It’s about Abbott’s nanny policy and whether it could better empower working parents of very young children with more accessible options for childcare.
Let’s recall the debate over the inadequacy of Australia’s childcare facilities has been going on for literally years now, without resolution. Isn’t it time to try something different? Or to at least consider it?
6:50 pm
Carmen, Good article in the Herald. The other massive advantage of a nanny is that you ave continuity of child care when your child is sick. As a GP I am all too familiar with the look of terror on a parent’s face when I tell them their child has a contagious illness and cannot attend child care. (Furthermore the contagious illness was usually contracted at the childcare centre). This is a real issue for parents who can’t easily take time off work and/or do nor have local family support.
2:00 pm
Lots of good points here – especially the GP above who raises the problem our household faced last week. Child picks up infection from childcare, and then is barred from attending. Passes it on to parents, who then can’t take time off work to rest because they used up their sick leave the week before staying home with the infected child.
And I’ve just booked a nanny for a 14 hour shift on Friday, she’ll probably take home more than I will for the day, but there is no way around it when your job requires a bit of flexibility.