Perceptions of rebates for nanny care: An analysis of an online discussion

Abstract

Childcare services in Australia have experienced a rapid growth in demand over the last 30 years. This has paralleled a number of shifts in society, including: the changing roles and expectations of women; the structuring of an economy that relies on dual income as the norm; the assigning of responsibility to the wider community for the adequate provision of child care; and more recently, an expectation that early years child care also performs an educative role. The current Australian context features a mini baby boom (Bryant, 2011) resulting in a strong demand for child care but with an unmatched supply of services. As a potential election promise, the federal opposition leader in 2012 suggested that the Australian childcare rebate for families should be extended to nannies to increase supply and to help with out-of-hours care. This would be a new initiative for the childcare industry. This paper reports on the text analysis of a self-selected group of 113 respondents who posted comments to a website in response to this proposal. Key themes emerged in the posts relating to: the role of women; middle-class welfare; the role of nannies; and the pressures of modern living. Findings from this investigation are important as they provide a moment in time snapshot of perceptions about early childhood education and care. Policy initiatives are explored with a view to address the shortfall in childcare provision; findings are important to provide initial glimpses of community perceptions.