How child care became an out-of-control entitlement Judith Sloan gives an example of government creating an entitlement industry by turning a private responsibility into an out-of-control public expense: Many voters have had children and gone out to work without any assistance from the taxpayer... The assumption was made that parents would work out what was in the best interests of their children and the family, and would act accordingly... Fast-forward to today and childcare is incredibly expensive and over-regulated. The idea that at least some of the staff at childcare centres require university-level qualifications is ludicrous... It is not uncommon for daily childcare fees to exceed $100 a day; figures of greater than $150 a day are not unheard of. The cost to the taxpayer of providing childcare fee relief is heading towards $5bn a year, having increased nearly threefold in the past eight years. The real tragedy is that this outcome was entirely predictable. It starts with an activity funded privately for private gains. There is some government involvement, but mainly at the local government level... The government decides to get involved on the basis of some trumped-up market failure excuse. The providers see a real opportunity and lobby for government funds in exchange for regulated standards. The mum-and-dad operators are forced out. The unions see a real opportunity too. Obviously, there are limits to what parents can be charged lest it become uneconomic for them to have their children in childcare. Shift the cost to the long-suffering taxpayer, snaffle a large chunk of the new funding to pay higher wages and claim lots of social benefits for "investment in early childhood education."