‘It’s crippling families’: parents say childcare centres pushing up rates as Labor’s subsidy kicks in

From July, the federal government’s $5.4bn childcare scheme will raise the maximum subsidy rate from 85% to 90% alongside a more generous income test, estimated to impact 1.2 million families across Australia. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Two years ago, it cost Jessica* $176 a day to send her daughter to childcare in Melbourne. From July, it’ll be $204.40 – a $26.40 jump.

Jessica is now reconsidering a second child. She’s accepted for the first five years of her daughter’s life, her and her partner will “just have to be broke”, dishing out more than $1,000 per week on fees.