Bendigo childcare providers have welcomed the federal government's temporary overhaul of the system, saying it offers parents and educators some certainty during the pandemic.
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On Thursday it was announced working parents would receive free childcare from next week, and centres could waive the gap fee for parents, backdated to March 23. .
Education Minister Dan Tehan said the government would directly pay childcare and early education centres 50 per cent of the fees they were receiving in the fortnight to March 2, up to the rate cap.
This will replace the child care and additional child care subsidies, and means testing has been scrapped.
Jenny's Early Learning managing director Darren Reid called earlier this week for the government to step in amid concerns the sector faced collapse as more parents pulled their children from care.
Mr Reid said the new system was a commitment to both the childcare sector and families.
He said it would help parents working from home or families self-isolating stay engaged with their childcare providers until they chose to return.
"It allows certainty for those essential workers... [that] they actually have care for their child and can go to work," Mr Reid said.
It also gave families who had had to pay for absences from childcare a choice, he said.
Kate McDonald, the centre manager of Great Beginnings Epsom, also said it meant families could keep children in childcare and the educators could continue to work.
Ms McDonald expected families who had left due to the crisis - of whom there were "a lot" - would now be able to return to childcare.
"Absolutely, some will re-engage," she said.
But Mr Reid said he was cautiously optimistic, as he awaited finer details about what the revamped system meant for families choosing to self-isolate who exceeded their allowable absences, and other issues currently facing the sector.
To be eligible to receive government payments, Mr Tehan said, childcare centres had to remain open, seek to re-enrol those who might have left, and provide care to the children of those parents who need it.
He said centres should prioritise children whose parents could not care for them at home because of their work, and vulnerable children.
Mr Tehan also said the Job Keeper payments supporting workers in the sector were worth more than $1 billion.
In combination with the payments to childcare centres, he said "this will enable the sector to make sure they remain open and are providing this care for parents for free."
The new system will be in place for at least six months, after which the government will review the pandemic situation and determine whether the old system should be reinstated.
The federal government has already lifted allowable absence days from 40 to 62.
Mr Tehan said the government was looking at what additional financial assistance could be provided from the Child Care Fund.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
