Australian Government Announces $6 Million Childcare Support for Locked-Down Melbourne

Dixon Creek Primary School, 50km north-east of Melbourne, on Feb. 26, 2009. (Paul Crock/AFP via Getty Images)

The Australian federal government has announced it will provide a further $6 million (US$4.3 million) to support Victoria’s Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services that have been impacted by the CCP virus lockdown.

Eligible OSHC services in locked-down Greater Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will have 15 percent of their revenue, backdated to July 20, paid for by the federal government.

This payment will be in addition to existing Child Care Subsidies and the 25 percent Transition Payment that replaced Job Keeper for workers in the child care sector. The Transition Payment is estimated to cost $708 million.

The federal Minister for Education Dan Tehan said in a media release on July 30 the additional payment support “will help more than 880 OSHC services to keep their doors open and their staff employed.”

“It will help working families and vulnerable and disadvantaged children to continue to access outside school hours care, relieving pressure on essential workers, who will be reassured their children are being cared for while they do their important work,” Tehan said.

On July 7, Tehan released a statement declaring the federal government’s relief package for impacted Victorian parents, by waiving the child care payment they were expected to pay.

“When the lockdowns were announced, our Government acted swiftly to provide certainty to impacted Victorian families by waiving the child care gap fee for children not attending care,” Tehan said.

“We are taking action to ensure Victorian families can still access care as we deal with the current COVID-19 lockdown,”

The Federal government provides about $8.3 billion a year in childcare subsidies for Australian families. Latest statistics from Department of Education, Skills and Employment shows 1.33 million children attended approved childcare in December 2019. Around 13,400 services are available across the country.