Parenting advocate Georgie Dent says rising childcare cost has pushed the overall burden to $36,500 a year and calls for more paid parental leave.
The cost for Australian families of raising two or more children has risen to at least $36,500 a year, according to new research, with the money needed to run a family increasing by 134% in two decades.
Data released by advocacy group The Parenthood on Wednesday shows household income has only grown by 102% in the same period, with childcare costs making up 33% of the total cost of having children today. In 2003, the figure was 27%, according to the analysis by firm Connell Griffin.
Parenthood chief executive, Georgie Dent, will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, arguing that having children reduces the earnings of Australian women by an average of 55% over the first five years of parenthood.
“For parents of young children seeking to raise and provide for their family one obstacle towers over the others: early childhood education and care.”
The speech comes after Monday’s intergenerational report showed that, for the first time, more Australians will be dying than being born in 40 years’ time.
Australia’s fertility rate is projected to decline to 1.34 by 2065–66, down from 1.5 children per woman in 2030–31.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told Guardian Australia’s weekly Australian Politics podcast on Tuesday that the government remained committed to moving to a universal childcare system in Australia.