Angus Taylor backs childcare voucher model to fund nannies and flexible care

The Opposition is exploring a voucher-based childcare model that would enable parents to direct subsidies towards nannies and other flexible care arrangements.

The idea was outlined by Liberal Senator Leah Blyth in an opinion piece published in the Australian Financial Review, where she argued it could broaden choices rather than tie families to a “one-size-fits-all” centre-based model.

The South Australian senator, who previously held a junior portfolio of stronger families, proposed a means-tested voucher which could be applied to approved childcare centres, family day care, in-home care or blended arrangements.

“Families are not production units whose behaviour must be optimised by government,” she said.

“They are households making complex decisions about work, income, care and time.

“Some rely on grandparents or extended family. Others combine part-time work with family day care, neighbours or in-home arrangements.

“These are not inefficiencies to be corrected. They are legitimate choices that policy should accommodate.”

Speaking in a broad-ranging address at the Centre for Independent Studies on Monday, Liberal leader Angus Taylor had also raised the need for a more flexible and less expensive approach to childcare.

“Now protecting our way of life is about many things. It’s about expanding childcare instead of forcing every family into the same universal system,” he said.

“Our system has been moving away from flexibility. We’ve got to make it more flexible. We have to give more choice.”

It comes as Education Minister Jason Clare on Monday confirmed a trial of CCTV cameras in more than 300 childcare centres was underway in response to reviews of the sector in the wake of damning child sex abuse reports.

Other looming changes to the industry include mandating safety training by February 27 and requiring childcare educators to be on a national register.

The peak body of the early education sector on Tuesday acknowledged the status quo was a “one-sized fits all” approach but insisted there were trade-offs between flexibility and quality safety standards.

Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) chief executive Karina Davis was asked about a more flexible model while testifying to a Senate hearing while it was sitting in Melbourne.

“ELAA understands and appreciates the real difficult tensions that working parents have particularly through the last months of (incidents prompting) fear and the lack of trust in the sector,” Dr Davis said.

“Moving towards less regulated care though, is not something that ELAA would support… because its carers are unregulated in that space.

“Oversighting an unregulated work force is nearly impossible and that creates more risk. We don’t support an environment where (there’s) greater risk.”

All State and Territory education ministers are expected to meet on Friday in South Australia, which will be their first for 2026.

Ms Clare said there would be “many things to discuss” including an update on the Federal Government’s work to improve early learning and childcare safety.

“There’s a lot of reforms that are rolling out over the next few weeks,” he said.

“That includes the register that will become mandatory in just under two weeks’ time, and mandatory safety training in our childcare centres for the people who work in our centres and keep our children safe.”

Independent advocacy group For Parents has been long term advocates for expanding the Child Care Subsidy to cover alternative care arrangements.

The volunteer-run advocacy group, started by three mums from Brisbane, have lobbied the government for more options like nannies, au pairs, grandparents and co-working spaces.