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Portfolio changes announced by the Prime Minister before Christmas mean early childhood education and care policy has been moved away from the Education Department and now falls under the responsibility of the Minister for Social Services Scott Morrison.
With the Prime Minister's decision to axe his signature Paid Parental Leave scheme $3 billion paid parental levy may now be directed towards an improved child care system.
Speaking to the Press Club in Canberra PM Abbott said:
"I accept that what's desirable is not always doable especially when times are tough and budgets are tight".
"We sought the advice of the Productivity Commission and I have listened to the feedback from my colleagues and from mums and dads around Australia - and they have said… the better focus now is on childcare if we want higher participation and a stronger economy."
The Prime Minister says more affordable and widely available child care will make it easier for parents to choose when they return to work.
"…a better child care policy is good economic policy as well as fairer family policy.
The key focus of this package will be to reform and improve the current confusing system of multiple child care support payments, and to provide more money in parents' pockets to help them with child care costs when they want to go back to work," Mr Abbott said.
The Daily Telegraph reports that possible changes include paying the rebate directly to centres rather than parents and possibly introducing a daily cap on the rebate to better manage the problem of high fees.
Mr Morrison's three principles for overhauling the Australian child care system are outlined in the Daily Telegraph and include tackling rising costs and making the system easier for parents, ensuring child care assistance boosts female workforce participation and ensuring low income and disadvantaged families who do not meet the work and study test can still access early childhood education and care services.
Mr Morrison has also said he will not alter the National Quality Framework or the staff ratios introduced under the NQF.
Scott Morrison
You can read more about the Minister for Social Services Mr Scott Morrison here. It's likely Mr Morrison will be responsible for delivering the Government's response to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Child Care and Early Childhood Learning.
Under the Prime Minister's cabinet shake up the former Assistant Minister for Education responsible for early childhood education and care, Ms Sussan Ley, has been promoted to the Minister of Health.
While much of the job of transferring information and resources over to the Department of Social Services website hasn't yet been done, you can still access news and updates on the Department of Education and Training website.
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