One topic that promises to garner plenty of headlines though is the complex issue of childcare, and more specifically, childcare affordability. 

It’s a many layered issue for which there are no easy answers, but in saying that, many countries do it far better than we do, including Britain, where up to 15 hours of childcare a week is free.

With our spiralling cost of living requiring more families to look to more than one wage, and an ageing population forcing the nation to look at how we boost a dwindling workforce, childcare looms as one of the most important issues on the national agenda.

The Productivity Commission’s final report on childcare and early childhood learning was released in February and its recommendations seem set to form the basis of the federal government’s new families package.

Newspapers at the weekend threw up a variety of proposals and changes to the sector, including new requirements about the number of hours parents will need to work to get childcare subsidies, and the scrapping of the $7500 cap on childcare rebates.

Food for thought certainly; good news for some families, bad news for others.

Things need to change though, on that there can be no argument.

Stories of families where one wage can go almost entirely on childcare, must become a thing of the past.

Parents who could go back – and want to go back – to work, but can’t because it’s not financially viable, or who can’t find places for their children, must be given some relief. 

The nation – and by extension governments – must place far more importance on childcare affordability.

On the quality of childcare, the federal government stepped up to the mark with the National Quality Framework in 2012, but when it comes to out-of-pocket expenses for such a vital service that same commitment has been sadly lacking.

Childcare and early learning in all its forms – preschool, daycare, family daycare, after-and-before-school hours care, nannies – must become a priority and if that means more money to relieve the burden on families, then that’s a sacrifice we must all be willing to make.

Australia’s future depends on it.