"Children are our future and their care is a community issue. Changes in family structures, employment patterns and expectations require an extended provision of accessible and affordable child care to adequately service the diverse needs of all types of families. Child care should be provided on the same basis as schooling of older children, as a responsibility of society.
"WEL calls on the Commonwealth Government to fulfil its responsibility to provide resources for the establishment and maintenance of an adequate number of affordable, high quality child care places to ensure that both children and parents have the services and support necessary to allow for personal development, paid work, family responsibilities, community service and respite in times of stress. The care should be of a high standard, which requires the provision of training and proper remuneration for child care workers and a sound educational program for the children. There must be no distinction made with regard to availability or cost structures of child care on the basis of arbitrary general categorisations of different parents' need for such services and support."
..."WEL urges governments to support the provision of quality childcare that is accessible on an equitable basis, the costs of which should be shared by parents, governments, employers and other stakeholders."
..."WEL considers that child-care and other family care facilities involves highly skilled work and should be remunerated accordingly."
..."WEL acknowledges and is concerned that women's and girls' traditional choice of education leads to career paths that are lower paid. WEL is concerned that "traditional" careers of women (eg teaching, childcare) are undervalued in Australian society."...
WEL Australia National Policies, December 2000
See also Budget and Election papers
WEL Australia Media Release, 14 December 2000: "Where is the affordable child care most mothers need?"
WEL Australia Media Release, 16 August 2000. Includes discussion of childcare recommendations
VSU bad for all and worse for women
WEL Australia Media Release, 25 February 1999. Voluntary Student Unionism's effect on the provision of women's services, including childcare.
by WEL Australia and others
Time to deliver paid maternity leave
July 2002. WEL Australia submission to the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission Valuing parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave Interim paper 2002. Part 2 includes numerous references to childcare
Women's Economic Think Tank (WETTANK) Paid Maternity Leave Submission
July 2002. Section on Devaluing employed motherhood
July 2002. Submission by the National Pay Equity Coalition (NPEC) in response to Valuing Parenthood Options for Paid Maternity Leave: Interim Paper 2002. Includes numerous references to childcare
WEL Australia Response to the Ministerial Discussion Paper Higher Education At the Crossroads ~ An overview paper
July 2002. Childcare references throughout
WEL Australia Submission to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education References Committee Inquiry into the capacity of public universities to meet Australia's higher education needs
March 2001. Section on Childcare
Constructing a 21st Century social support system
Submission to the Reference Group on Welfare Reform by Women's Electoral Lobby, Young Women's Christian Association, Sole Parents' Union, Women's Economic Think Tank, 17 December 1999. Section on Childcare and references throughout
WEL Australia Submission to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education Reference Committee Inquiry into the Higher Education Legislation Amendment Bill 1999
May 1999. Includes a section on childcare, and childcare references throughout
WEL Australia Submission to the HREOC National Inquiry into Pregnancy and Work
May 1999. See sections on National economic issues, labour market changes and increased casualisation, Returning to work, and Problems returning to work
A response to the Functional Review of Childcare - Report of the Working Party [not online]
1991 WEL Submission to Family Services, ACT Housing and Community Services Bureau
Childcare Workers' Pay [not online]
1989 WEL Australia Submission to the Industrial Relations Commission
This section includes a number of media releases
Women's Electoral Lobby Australia 2003 - 2004 Pre-budget submission
See esp. Recs 12-14 of the Women's pre-budget submission to the Commonwealth Government 2003 - 2004, and the section An improved income support program in ACOSS's Piecing it together: Federal Budget Priorities Statement 2003 - 2004
Women sidelined by the 2002 federal budget
WEL Australia Media Release 15 May 2002
WEL Australia Media Release: Budget, 22 May 2001 - has a section on child care
WELfare Reform Lite: I can't believe it's not better
WEL Australia Media Release: Budget, 22 May 2001
"The Government has made it clear that they couldn't afford their mutual obligations under the McClure report: things like housing, child care and transport."
Comment from Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), Inkwel June 2000
1999 - 2000 Budget Highlights For Women
Section on Strengthening families; discussion of child care throughout
WEL Australia Media Release, 16 May 1999
WEL Australia Budget Media Release, 11 May 1999
WEL 1998 Pre-Budget Submission
Expenditure Needs - section on Child Care; Revenue Raising Measures - The introduction of more hypothecated taxes; Child Care in Part 2. See also the section in Part 3 on Time Poverty
WEL Australia - Pre-Budget Submission 1997
Especially sections on Education & Related Areas and Child Care; and in Part 2, sections on Revenue Raising Recommendations, Women & Small Business, Education and Child Care
"Election 2001 will be remembered as a 'childcare-free zone'." Inkwel January 2002
WEL Australia Inc - Federal Election 2001 - childcare references throughout
Unsettled women to choose our next government
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release: Final Whether Report 08 November 2001
HECS relief outshines baby bonus but who cares for the kids?
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 31 October 2001
Thanks, but only a little thanks, because ideology shows up again
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 28 October 2001 re "First child tax refund"
A strong southerly puts women's issues on the agenda
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 26-10-01 & WEL Whether Report No 3
Female casual[tie]s of labour market deregulation
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 24 October 2001
Cheers for giving women what they want
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 16-10-01
Flexible families or flexible workplaces?
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 09 October 2001 & WEL Whether Report No 1
WEL Australia - Federal Election 2001 - Media Release 03 October 2001
WEL Australia Inc - Federal Election 2001: "Policy areas already identified as presenting problems for women include: ... Affordable quality childcare across the nation"
Women's vote can change the political forecast
Inkwel October 2001
In safe hands? Women in the 2001 election
"...the removal of operational subsidies for community-based childcare centres and the freezing of childcare assistance had priced formal childcare out of range for many and led to the closure of 400 childcare centres in the first four years of the Howard government." Marian Sawer, Inkwel January 2002
Women deserve better - from both Coalition and Labor
"Women have borne the brunt of the Howard government's cuts to childcare, education, health and other community services and feel threatened by the prospects of a GST or the privatisation of Telstra." 1998 Federal Election, Marian Sawer, Inkwel November 1998
WEL Australia Media Release on Family Policy (1998 Federal Election), 22 September 1998
WEL Australia Media Release re Tax (1998 Federal Election), 14 August 1998
Child Care | Social Security | Industrial Relations
Scorecards, WEL 1998 Election Form Guide
House of Representatives: Scores
WEL 1998 Election Form Guide
Especially section on the Democrats and Social Infrastructure and choices. WEL 1998 Election Form Guide
WEL 1998 Election Form Guide
1996 Federal Election: a landmark for women's representation in Parliament
Joan Bielski, Inkwel 1996/1-2
1996 Federal election - The WEL Report
How the parties score on child care and superannuation
1996 Federal election - Women's Charter - Media Release: WEL's interim report, 28 February 1996
1996 Federal election - Women's Charter Part 1
The end of equality? Australian women and the Howard government
Pamela Denoon Lecture 2003 - Anne Summers AO PhD, Canberra, 6 March 2003. Includes historical background as well as current facts and figures
"The recommendations to the current Crossroads inquiry are based in WEL's education policy and go to issues of quality, affordability and accessibility of education, including issues like childcare which are fundamental to many women accessing tertiary education." Erica Lewis, Inkwel July 2002
See also Response to the Ministerial Discussion Paper Higher Education At the Crossroads ~ An overview paper
"The current government has poured money into support for non-employed young mothers in parenting allowances, income tested child payments and, to come, a baby bonus. The amounts spent on these far exceed the subsidies for childcare. Good childcare in centres has also become much less affordable in the same time." Eva Cox, Inkwel April 2002
Community Child Care Association of Victoria, Inkwel January 2001
Legal victory for women with family responsibilities
Inkwel January 2001
Welfare Reform - The empty package, or welfare reform that never was! - A Briefing Note
Eva Cox, Inkwel January 2001
Gender Equity in Australian University Staffing
Dr Clare Burton, February 1998. References to "child care" throughout
"I do believe that funding to reduce childcare fees must exist, as this is a public contribution to something that benefits children." Eva Cox, Inkwel 1995/2-3
Includes references to early demands and successes
Page created 23 March 2003; last updated 26 June 2003