OPINION: 'Parents are being completely gaslit by the new early childhood education report.'

If you are a parent with a child under five and you need some form of paid work in order to be able to house/feed/clothe said mini-human, what I am about to say could be triggering. (The same trigger warning applies if you've ever been in that situation, know someone in that situation or are a grandparent watching your adult children in that situation.)

The TLDR version is that the economists at the Productivity Commission are gaslighting parents in Australia with small children. 

They reckon being able to access or afford decent daycare does not influence the "choices" parents in Australia make about how and when they work.

Despite 24 per cent of the country being a "childcare desert" which means there are three children for every available place within a 20 minute drive. 

Despite waitlists hundreds of children long, and some parents literally waiting years for a position for their child despite putting their name down moments after conception. 

Despite just three in 10 families saying the cost of daycare is "easily manageable". 

Despite fees for daycare in capital cities being akin to private school fees.   

Despite all of that, the folks at the Productivity Commission reckon not being able to afford or secure a spot in day care apparently has little impact on the "choices" families are making. 

Let me explain. After an 18 month inquiry they've published a whopping report that's almost 1,000 pages long on early childhood education and care. 

Some of it is awesome.

Watch me explain briefly here. Post continues after video.

The idea that every child, regardless of their postcode or parents' income, should have access to at least three days a week of quality, inclusive early childhood education and care if their family wants it. 

The idea that early learning services need to be inclusive so they meet the needs of the communities they serve. 

The importance of quality. 

The fact the workforce needs to be properly supported and paid. 

The fact that high quality early education and care is an equity-creator for children that is critical to disrupting disadvantage before it's entrenched.  

All of that is GOLD.  

But the bananas idea that much more affordable and readily accessible quality early childhood education wouldn't really impact parents' workforce participation is, Not Gold. 

Let's go through the numbers.   

The PC says there are 328,000 parents in Australia not participating in the paid workforce as much as they would like due to barriers around childcare, namely difficulty with cost and lack of access. 

The PC then said that removing all barriers to childcare would enable the equivalent of 143,000 full-time parents to join the workforce. This affirms what we know from parents in The Parenthood's community, especially mums, who find themselves unable to freely "choose" how they participate in paid work because of cost or access challenges with childcare. 

So far, so good. But then what? Well, then, despite those conclusions, the PC has said that childcare isn't really a hugely influential factor for parents. 

Say what?? It's a circle we cannot square. 

As CEO of The Parenthood I'm on a professional mission and campaign for universal access to quality, totally affordable early childhood education and care. I'm not on this mission - personally or professionally - to force parents back to work, to have all children in full-time daycare, to undervalue parenting or to shame parents who choose to take time out of the paid workforce when they have children. 

Not even close. Far far from it.

The Parenthood's mission is to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent and raise a child. We campaign for better policies to support children, parents and families in the early years. 

We exist because parenting matters SO MUCH and too often parents are denied a voice because they're in the thick of trying to raise their tiny humans and barely have time to sip a tea while it's hot let alone take to the streets campaigning for change. 

The report says a lot of great stuff, but its conclusions are baffling. Image: Getty.

In raising babies and toddler and small children, parents and caregivers quite literally have the future in their hands. By the age of five, 90 per cent of a child's brain is fully developed so what happens in the early years of a child's life really matters. 

Children fare best when they are well nourished, responsively cared for with access to learning opportunities from birth onwards, and are protected from disease, violence and stress. This isn't opinion - it's factual. 

To be able to provide that nurturing care, particularly in the early years when the pressure and the stakes are often the highest, parents need support, resources and time. 

Without support, resources and time, "choice" is a fantasy.

Having a baby is - simultaneously - joyous, wonderful and terrifying. Even with immense privilege having a baby is a time of great upheaval. The responsibility is overwhelming. For new parents in Australia it is often a time of incredible isolation.

That beautiful African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child is profound because it is so apt. We should not expect raising a child to be a solitary exercise that any parent can undertake without help. To thrive, not merely survive, all children and parents need support.

Right now, in global terms, the support that children, parents and families can access in the early years in Australia lags.  

The Parenthood is working to change that: we want children, parents and caregivers supported to thrive. We want the full reality of parenting in the early years to be seen and recognised and valued and validated. 

We campaign for one year of paid parental leave that is shared between parents, and access to totally affordable, high quality early childhood education and care delivered by a professionally qualified and paid workforce. 

We don't campaign for better childcare because every child must attend formal, full-time childcare or because every parent should be back at work three seconds after they have a baby. 

Far from it. We campaign for that option to be available to all parents so they can - genuinely - choose what works for them and their family. 

Without the option of some form of quality early learning and care that is affordable, all your other options shrink. When you have small children unless you have family on stand-by who can step in free of charge, your options to participate in any form of work are limited. For some households this isn't a problem. Not working is their preference and they are able to freely choose that option.

For the vast majority of households, however, not working isn't viable. We surveyed over 1200 parents with children under six last year and 82 per cent told us they need two incomes to meet the cost of living. In capital cities, it was over 90 per cent. 

And that's in households where a second income is even available. In single parent households, there is even less scope for "choice". 

You only have to meet a handful of families with small children in Australia to recognise how little "choice" they have when it comes to combining their caring responsibilities with their need to financially provide for their children.  

Which is why it's so hard to fathom the economists at the Productivity Commission saying families' choices aren't really influenced by whether they can access totally affordable quality childcare.  

Georgie Dent is the CEO of The Parenthood, a NFP advocacy organisation representing over 80,000 parents, carers and supporters nationally.  

Feature image: Getty