Canberra parents fear any cut to the paid parental leave, but are divided over the benefits of the slew of changes to childcare and work incentives announced by Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.
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On Sunday the Abbott government revealed its new $3.5 billion childcare package ahead of Tuesday's budget, which stripped benefits from stay-at-home mums, and took aim at the paid parental leave system.
Part-time teacher Sunday Ciastkowski, who lives in Amaroo with her three children under eight, said she would not support any reductions in paid parental leave to prevent so-called "double dipping", as flagged by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"I think it's very sad if that happens, as that was a way for us to have the time off work longer than what we would have normally had.
"That's actually why we chose to stay in Australia to have our children because of the way that the government looked after families and mums," she said.
Ms Ciastkowski was pleased to hear the new subsidy would apply to nannies, however, as she said they would be moving to employ an au pair in July "because childcare is so expensive".
Mother of two Chrissy Scott said offering both government and employer paid parental leave was important as it attracted good female candidates into jobs.
"That really helped us and meant I could take a bit more time off work with my first. I got six months off between the two schemes, and I guess part of the decision to work there was that they had both schemes," she said.
Ms Scott said her current decision not to return to work was wholly due to the availability of childcare places, and agreed that a combined income of $185,000 was not that much in expensive cities such as Sydney or Canberra.
A single mother of an eight-year-old, who wished to be known by her first name Shavorne, said that for women like her, who earned less than $60,000 and worked full time, more cash would be a welcome budget present.
"I went from part-time work back to full-time work and I'm in a government house so when I went back my income went up and same with my costs. I got to the point of thinking why am I working just to make $50 to $100 a week?" she said.
Childcare providers YWCA Canberra said they were concerned about the cuts flagged to the paid parental leave scheme and the government decision to push ahead with cuts to the Family Tax Benefit Part B.
"We're concerned about the proposal to offset the costs of the scheme by cutting the family tax benefit – a payment that is relied upon by low-income parents across Australia," YWCA Canberra executive director Frances Crimmins said.
"This, combined with the government's sudden backflip on paid parental leave, means that the potential positive impact of the new childcare subsidy is likely to be diminished significantly."
