2024 publications
March 2024: Submission to the Work and Care for the Modern Awards Review 2023-24 (AM2023/21)This submission includes a set of recommendations designed to inform the Modern Awards Review in response to the Fair Work Commission’s Discussion Paper on Work and Care.
February 2024: At a Turning Point: Work, care and family policies in Australia, Edited by Marian Baird, Elizabeth Hill and Sydney Colussi. Sydney University Press
At a Turning Point: Work, care and family policies in Australia provides a comprehensive account of key policy areas that shape the experience of work and care across the life course. These include reproductive wellbeing, paid parental leave, early childhood education and care, flexible work, elder and disability care, and equitable systems of tax and transfer payments. Authors are members of the W+FPR.
February 2024: Response to the Productivity Commission draft report: A path to universal early childhood education and care, Inquiry into the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector.
In this response to the Draft Report we argue the Commission has failed to adequately address four issues. These include:
- Lack of a detailed plan for how Australia could build a universal system of accessible, affordable and high-quality ECEC over the next 10-20 years, including a plan to build workforce sustainability.
- Failure to recognise gender equality as a core principle underpinning ECEC reform that meets the Australian Government’s wider policy goals; access to high quality ECEC is a gender equality measure with positive benefits for the wellbeing and economic security of Australian women and men, children and households as well as national productivity and prosperity.
- Failure to take a proactive position on the poor working conditions and low pay, underpinned by gender undervaluation, that characterise employment in the ECEC sector and contribute directly to the sector’s current workforce challenges.
- Inadequate attention to the negative impact of leaving critical decisions, such as service distribution within the ECEC system, to market forces and to the impact of commercialisation and the unbalanced growth of for-profit provision on service quality, accessibility, and cost.
2023 publications
In this submission we draw on 18 years of W+FPR research and deliberations on ECEC and related policies to provide evidence to the Inquiry on:
- The economic and social benefits of a universal system of high-quality ECEC;
- Investment in a well-trained ECEC workforce, that is paid professional wages as a driver of workforce sustainability and service quality;
- Maximising the public value of government investment in high-quality ECEC
In response to the evidence in these three domains, the W+FPR makes eight specific recommendations.
March 2023: Productivity Commission Inquiry into Carer Leave, The Women, Work & Policy Group at the University of Sydney Business School and the W+FPR made a joint submission in response to the Productivity Commission’s 2023 Position paper.
2022 publications
November 2022: Submission to the Treasury Consultation on the 2022 Employment White Paper
September 2022: Submission to Select Senate Committee Inquiry into Work and Care
May 2022: Election Scorecard on Work Care and Family Policies
April 2022: 2022 Federal Election Benchmarks
2021 publications
June 2021: Submission to the National Skills Commission for the Care Workforce Labour Market Study
November 2021: Submission to the Consultation on Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012
2020 publications
December 2020: Work + Care in a Gender Inclusive Recovery: A Bold Policy Agenda for a New Social Contract
February 2020: Submission to the Review of the Australian Retirement Income System
March 2020: Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill 2020_12 March 2020
June 2020: W+FPR submission to Senate Select Committee on COVID 19_June 4 2020_FINAL
Previous publications
May 2019: Election Scorecard on Work Care and Family Policies
April 2019: 2019 Election Benchmarks
March 2017: Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Gender Segregation
January 2017: Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill 2016
June 2016: Election scorecard on Work, Care and Family Policies
May 2016: Work, Care and Family Policies: Election Benchmarks 2016
February 2016: Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Bill 2015. Joint submission with the Women and Work Research Group at the University of Sydney.
May 2015: Budget 2015 Press release
March 2015: Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into the Workplace Relations Framework.
Joint submission with the Women and Work Research Group at the University of Sydney.
Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning
September 2014: Work and Family Policy Roundtable Response to the Draft Report
April 2014: Work and Family Policy Roundtable Submission
Work and Family Policy Roundtable Benchmarks
August 2013: Work + Family Policy Roundtable Election Evaluation, August 2013
March 2013: Work, Care and Family Policies: Election Benchmarks 2013
Fair Work Act Submissions
2012 Fair Work Act (2009) Post Implementation Review Submission
2012 Fair Work Act Better Work/Life Balance Bill Submission
Work and Family Policy Roundtable Books
Kids Count: Better early childhood education and care in Australia
Edited by Elizabeth Hill, Barbara Pocock and Alison Elliott
Demand for childcare has soared over the past decade as Australian families seek to reconcile work and care responsibilities. But the cost of care keeps rising, waiting lists in many metropolitan centres are long, and high quality services are not always available.
Australia’s system of early childhood education and care is fragmented, and the major political parties have failed to take a comprehensive approach to policy development. So what would a good system of early childhood education and care in Australia look like?
To purchase a hard copy of this book please visit the Sydney University Press web site.
Sydney University Press
ISBN: 9781920898700
