At ACA NSW's recent IECS 2018, the NSW Minister for Early Childhood Education (the Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC) and NSW Labor (the Hon Courtney Houssos MLC) address the question:

“Despite all the genuine efforts of successive governments, both federally and state, childcare fees have become quite expensive. So expensive that in some parts of Sydney, childcare fees for children aged 0-5 years old are more expensive than sending teenagers to elite private schools in Sydney! Given parents with 0-5 year old children tend to be young and have not yet established their careers enough to earn the high dollars, how do we expect these young parents to afford childcare? Or are we as a nation accepting the fact that we will see fewer and fewer children born in Australia because we can’t afford to have them, and instead rely on migrants to sustain our economy and society?”

Reference: Appendix C - Childcare Fees vs Elite Private Schools in Sydney (March 2018)