Foreign maids can help reduce our child-care crisis in Australia

Last month Prime Minister Scott Morrison threw a desperately-needed $1.6 billion lifeline to Australia’s childcare sector.

The emergency support from our government was desperately needed to ensure child-care centres are able to keep their doors open as parents withdrew their children due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  But it needs to remembered that, in normal times, this is an industry that can only operate provided there is a massive subsidy from the public purse, already costing almost $8 billion per year. And the irony is that despite this amount of money being required from taxpayers and also parents, the needs of families in meeting their childcare needs are still failing to be addresses.

Currently 47% of all households have children, either with couples or single-parent families, with many parents either unemployed or under-employed due to their desire or need to care for their children. Notwithstanding the massive government subsidies, the cost and availability of day-care, during normal times, still impacts on young families costing up to $650.00 per week per child.

The covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the inflexibility of the childcare sector, as shift workers - and particularly those provide essential services – find themselves with no option other than to stay at home with their children. We therefore need to ask is there a better way to provide parents with affordable, flexible and quality childcare? The answer is yes, and it is operating here right now.

For over ten years, young backpackers from overseas have lived and worked in Australia for up to two years under the ‘Holiday-work’ visa arrangement. The most visible picture of this successful scheme can be seen during Australia’s fruit harvest time, where backpackers have become critical in the picking of fruit. But backpackers also appear – in normal times – in many cafes and restaurants around Australia.

In recent years the demand for foreign backpackers has increased and so it was inevitable some of them would find their way into family homes as desperate parents looked for home-based child care and home-help at an affordable cost. Single mums who work odd-hours as nurses; single dads looking after a disabled child whilst trying to maintain work commitments, small business owners and general shift workers including emergency services staff, are just a few of the parents whose needs are not being met by childcare centres under the current system.

Holiday-work backpackers have now become Australia’s de-facto nannies or au-pair workers, and anecdotal evidence is the system works well, and is legal under the conditions of the Holiday-Work visa.

Using a nanny is nothing new in Europe, North America and in Asia. Ask any Australian couple, who have just returned from working overseas as ‘expats’, what do they miss most after returning to Australia? Usually they will say they miss having a live-in nanny.

The downside in using backpackers as nannies is that there are no detailed checks of the worker and the families with whom they will share their life. Also, under the backpacker visa, just as the nanny gets to know the children and becomes comfortable with the family, they must move-on; usually into regional areas of Australia.

The solution is for Australia to create a special ‘Au-pair or nanny visa’.  Both The Philippines and Indonesia, for example, have thousands of well-trained maids who speak fluent English, and have looked after expat families who would come here tomorrow if they were offered the chance, and the visas required, to work in Australia with families.

Let’s assume Australia had become mature enough to allow nannies to come into our country. It could work like this:

A maid would be paid around $200.00 per week whilst in Australia. This is 300% higher than they would earn back home. The host family would pay a bond to the Australian Government. The maid would need to have had a minimum of three-years of experience working for an ‘ex-pat’ family and have acceptable English language skills and they would need to have good references would need to be covered by private medical insurance at the host family’s expense.

Each maid would live-in and their food and work clothing would be provided by the family. They would be entitled to every Sunday off, and each year a return airfare to their home country for two weeks.

The advantages for many of these guest workers would included the ability to earn a significantly higher wage than in their own country, and thus be able to send money home, to learn and build on their English language skills that can help in their future careers and to experience life in Australia thus improving cultural understanding between our countries..

The advantage for Australia is obvious with an immediate reduction in the demand for childcare facilities and a large reduction in federal subsides.

Under-employed, and unemployed, parents could go back into the workforce if they wish whilst parents wanting to stay at home, quality time could be spent with their children instead of cleaning, cooking and washing dishes!

Children often feel more secure within their home environment and the scheme would facilitate the release of a significant number of skilled Australian workers back into the work force.

So what are the disadvantages of such a program? Domestic violence against maids is not common, but it could happen, and Australia’s egalitarian culture means some may find it difficult to have a live-in guest in their home.

The nanny-au-pair concept would, therefore need to be introduced under a clear and comprehensive policy framework. But a program that releases many skilled Australians back into the workforce, improves the quality and financial wellbeing of thousands of young families whilst relieving the federal purse of a growing and massive cost burden, is a program that is worth talking about. Just ask most families right now.

Ross B. Taylor AM is the chairman of the WA-based Indonesia Institute (Inc.)

May 2020