What broke childcare?

What broke childcare?

From ABC Business Daily by ABC Australia

June 5, 2026 · 25 min

About this episode

Adelajda Soltysik joins Alan Kohler to discuss the challenges and complexities of Australia's childcare system.

Childcare has become a system that almost everyone relies on, but very few think is working properly. Families pay a lot, quality is uneven, and after years of marketisation the sector is now dominated by for-profit providers. So how did Australia end up here? Why is the system still so expensive? What does the data say are the differences between for-profit and not-for-profit care? Does fixing it now require more than tinkering at the edges? Adelajda Soltysik is one of Australia's foremost experts on childcare. She joins Alan Kohler to examine the deeper fault lines in the system - from the shift away from direct government funding, to the limits of means-tested subsidies, the case for a 100 per cent subsidy, the lessons from Canada, the role of private equity, and why some of the best community-run centres are still struggling to survive. Senior Policy Advisor with the Centre for Policy Development Adelajda Soltysik joins Alan Kohler to unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au

People in this episode

Host: Alan Kohler

Guest: Adelajda Soltysik

Topics covered

  • childcare system
  • marketisation
  • for-profit vs not-for-profit
  • government funding
  • subsidies
  • private equity
  • community-run centres

Keywords

  • childcare
  • Australia
  • for-profit
  • not-for-profit
  • subsidies
  • government funding
  • private equity
  • community centres

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Centre for Policy Development

Places: Australia, Canada

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