opinion
Ross Taylor: Live-in overseas nannies could revolutionise Australian childcare woes

This week’s Federal Budget highlighted one difficult reality: Australia is struggling to meet the financial cost, and demand, for a range of social welfare support programs that includes child-care at around $11 billion annually. Australia not only faces a severe skills shortage of day-care workers, the industry is now fraught with quality and security issues affecting the children of families facing both financial and lifestyle stress. Currently in Australia there are 2.42 million couples with dependent children at home. Of this, 674,000 were single-parent families; all increasing the demand on the federal government for quality support for their children. There is, however, a program that has worked well in Asia, Europe and North America, for many years, that could go a long way to addressing these issues here in Australia: Enter the foreign maid or nanny. Ask any couple, who have just returned from working overseas as ‘expats’, what do they miss most after returning to Australia? Usually they will lament not having a live-in maid or nanny. We already have an unofficial nanny program here in Australia thanks to the thousands of foreign backpackers, here under the Holiday and Work Visa, who have found their way into family homes as parents desperately seek support for their children and home duties. But this de-facto arrangement fails to afford backpackers the protections they need whilst here, whereas a formal Nanny-Maid visa would address both security and pay issues. Services of a live-in nanny, would release a significant number of skilled workers (mostly mums) back into the workforce whilst providing families with peace-of-mind that their child, and the housekeeping, was in good hands. More importantly, such a scheme would transfer much of the financial burden of child-care away from the government and taxpayers, to the parents of young children — but at a cost they can afford. Within our immediate region, there are thousands of young people who speak fluent English — and have previously looked after expat families — who would come here tomorrow if they were offered the chance and the visas required to allow their entry to Australia. The scheme could work like this: The advantage for these guest workers would be: The advantage for Australia is obvious: 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 families may find it difficult to have a live-in guest in their home. Another key issue would be the claim that using ‘cheap foreign labour’ as nannies, is exploitation of these people. I would argue that not only would this scheme not be exploiting foreign workers, but rather it would be an act of responsibility by Australia to assist thousands of young people in our region to improve their lives financially and empowering them with English language, social and cultural skills. The program would need to be expanded under a clear and comprehensive policy framework. But a program that releases many skilled Australians back into the workforce whilst decreasing the cost burden on the federal budget, and also improving the quality and financial wellbeing of thousands of young families, is a program that is worth talking about. Ross B. Taylor AM is a former WA Commissioner to Indonesia & Advisory Board Member at UWA’s Public Policy Institute.

opinionRoss Taylor: Live-in overseas nannies could revolutionise Australian childcare woes

opinion
Ross Taylor: Live-in overseas nannies could revolutionise Australian childcare woes