Along with all the economic scaremongering and regressive social agenda that is part and parcel of the current Australian Government comes ‘business’ led solutions for ensuring our financial welfare.
The Indonesia Institute, a conservative Perth-based think tank, says carers from countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines should be allowed to come to Australia and mind children for $200 a week to help ease pressure on family budgets. Childcare is seen as a critical issue due to the need for both parents to work full time to maintain their finances – full-time, unsubsidised day care being beyond the means of even dual income households.
Now, this presents a number of questions. On the surface one could ask how have we found ourselves in the situation whereby we have to ‘import’ childcare? Cannot this be covered by local legislation and participation? After all, are not Australian unemployment and accommodation real issues?
There is no point creating a ‘race to the bottom’ regarding wages, which this suggestion from the ‘The Indonesia Institute’ would seem to support – there is no reason not to set a minimum award wage, across the board for child care services of varying types and to include appropriately screened and qualified working visa holders – Indonesians, Malaysians, anyone.
Comparatively and realistically, the wage would have to be much higher than $200/week for a full-time carer.
Looking deeper into the problem, how have we arrived at the point where a household and its associated costs cannot be covered by one, at least average, wage? This situation has not arisen overnight so it cannot be blamed on the current extreme neo-liberal politics, but it can be blamed on a succession of Governments that have failed to see the welfare of its citizens as a priority, placing economics as the fundamental and only reaction to human need as crises arise.
Every single child in this country is currently part of the next generation of adults, of those that will be entrusted to shape Humanity for successive generations. Most of the basic formation of the Human psyche takes place during those formative years – what children see in their major influences, their parents, moulds them, their emotional stability and sense of well-being. It’s well recognised that a fractured early-childhood can result in many an issue for the child in later years.
So why is not ‘childcare’ an absolute priority for funding via taxation, so that the quality thereof is guaranteed regardless of income? Or furthermore, why must we accept the situation where the ratio of average earnings to living costs is untenable? Why must both parents, within the average family work, simply to make ends meet for many years of their lives?
The responsible management of Humanity is in ensuring that we focus on the Human issues, and not some ‘instrument that has evolved into a fundamental’, vis economics. We need to focus on people and their needs, not some ‘tool of power’.
