By KATE ELLIS
I met a mother at child care centre recently who told me about the great lengths her and her partner need to go to juggle just getting the kids to and from child care.
She told me how they have to ‘tag team’ the pick-up and drop off; how they have to and negotiate with employers, fight the traffic, and call on grandparents to ‘fill the child care gaps.’
It’s not a new story, it’s a story I hear constantly from Australian parents who say their child care isn’t flexible enough to meet their needs.
Over the last 10 years there’s been a significant shift in our workforce. There has been a 25% increase in women participating in work and also a growing diversity in the sectors that we are employed in. At the same time more children are accessing child care than ever before.
This means that parents need flexible options to meet their child care needs.
I understand that that no two families are the same and I know that families want more options when it comes to managing their work and family balance.
That’s why our Government introduced the Fair Work Act and then added new measures to give working parents the right to request to work part time.
It’s also why we announced yesterday that we are introducing flexibility trials at 50 different sites across Australia in partnership with industry, business and child care operators to provide more flexible child care hours. We are working on new arrangements to help parents out with the mad dash to get the kids before and after work every day and help make the juggling act a little easier.