Clubs Australia is pushing for licensed clubs to be able to open child care centres, under a proposal currently before the Productivity Commission's inquiry into childcare. This would be in exchange for increased tax breaks for clubs.

This comes as a memorandum of understanding was signed by NSW Premier Mike Baird and ClubsNSW last week, saying that the NSW government would consider using the ClubGRANTS scheme, which grants rebates on gaming taxes if an equivalent amount is spent on community support, to "assist in providing community care services".

But Greens child care spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young has called the idea is "absurd" and will announce a federal plan on Thursday to outlaw child care centres from gambling venues around the country.

"A pokies bar is no place for a child care centre," she said. "This cynical move, prompted by gambling lobbyists, is fraught with danger for thousands of parents who are already struggling with poker machine addiction."

Senator Hanson-Young will move an amendment to an existing childcare bill that is already before the lower house. This bill aims to freeze the income threshold for the child care benefit for three years from June 30 2014.

The Greens senator's amendment would see child care centres in clubs would not be "approved" providers. This would mean parents could not use the federally funded child care rebate or child care benefit at such centres, and would make them unviable.

A recent report by the Labor-aligned McKell Institute and ClubsNSW argued that clubs had strong connections to their communities and so had "the potential to engage with the provision of child care services". This would particularly be the case in low-income and regional areas of NSW.

But a 2014 study by the Australian National University and the Benevolent Society found that excessive use of alcohol in public "makes children feel highly vulnerable". Older children also reported hating being put in the "children's room" when their parents visited a club.

On Thursday, Clubs Australia executive director Anthony Ball invited Senator Hanson-Young to visit a child care facility at the Revesby Workers' Club in western Sydney.

"While visiting the senator could chat to the many children, parents and the highly qualified and friendly team of early childhood educators that do such a great job, in a growing area that lacks affordable, accessible childcare," he said.

"I think Senator Hanson-Young needs to see what happens in the real-world."

He said the Tree House child care facility was in a separate building, across the road from the club, "with neither a poker machine nor a beer in sight".

When asked about her position on child care centres in clubs, Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley said the federal government's aim was to make child care more available, affordable and flexible.

"The national regulations surrounding child care and early learning are rigorous and have been carefully developed to ensure the appropriate care, education and welfare of our young people," she said.

"How, where and why the NSW government licenses child care centres is a matter for them, but the state would certainly need to take into consideration the rules it helped develop in deciding on appropriate locations for the care of our children."

The Productivity Commission is due to hand its much anticipated final report to the federal government on October 31.