Responding to the Minister's defence of childcare funding this afternoon as reported on the AAP Newswire, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"The Minister's statement requires clarification in three areas:

1. The Minister cites average long day care fees as rising only a small amount, however a truer picture of the overall problem of high childcare fees is given by the ABS data used by the ACTU.

• ABS data shows that overall childcare costs have risen 50% since the election of the Howard Government in March 1996 and that prices are up 30% in the past two years.

2. The Minister also states that the number of actual childcare places has risen substantially since 1996. The ACTU does not dispute this, but the real problem is that the rise in places has not kept pace with parent's rising demand.

• The Australia Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that more childcare places are needed for around 175,000 children. The extra 40,000 before and after school care places expected to be announced in the Budget tomorrow are only the tip of the ice-berg. For example, parents need an additional 100,000 places for pre-schoolers.

3. The Minister acknowledges that the average child care gap fee for parents that have a child in long day care is $57 a week. This is higher than the median figure used by the ACTU and ACOSS today.

• The Minister's figure shows that this translates to an annual cost to parents of around $2700 a year.

Minister Anthony needs to respond to the advice of the Childcare Think Tank that reported to the Government earlier this year and solve with the workforce crisis facing the childcare sector.

A good first step is for the Government provide a national childcare rescue plan in tomorrow's Federal Budget that includes provision to fund a pay rise for childcare workers."