Australian voters think increased funding for childcare and preschools is more important than a tax cut for big businesses, a new poll has found.
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It comes as cabinet considers boosting childcare funding and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison devises a new approach to families policy.
In results that will increase pressure on the Coalition to transfer the big business levy that was meant to fund paid parental leave to childcare, the Essential Research poll has found a majority of Australian voters across gender, age and party groupings think there should be more money for childcare - with a total support rating of 64 per cent.
A similar number of respondents - 65 per cent - specifically agreed with the statement "more funding for childcare and preschools is more important than reducing the company tax rate for big business".
More Labor than Coalition voters supported this idea, however, with 73 per cent of ALP voters agreeing and only 55 per cent of Liberal/National voters in support.
The poll, which surveyed more than 1000 Australians at the end of February, was commissioned by Goodstart Early Learning - the largest provider of early learning and care services in Australia.
The poll also found that 77 per cent of those surveyed thought investing in early childhood learning "is in the nation's long-term interests". Support for this statement was highest among voters 55 years and over and Labor voters (at 85 per cent each). But there was also strong support among Coalition voters (75 per cent) and Greens voters (78 per cent).
A further 70 per cent of respondents agreed that "more funding for childcare and preschools is more important than increasing paid parental leave [funding]".
"The Australian public is calling on the federal government to use more than $1 billion originally allocated to the Prime Minister's planned paid parental leave [scheme] for early childhood learning," she said.
Essential Research director Peter Lewis said the poll results showed that funding for childcare was "emerging as an issue where there is broad and bipartisan demand for meaningful action".
The government's position on childcare funding has been ambiguous to date.
While Prime Minister Tony Abbott last year talked about "putting more money" into childcare, Treasurer Joe Hockey has since said that "big business will not be paying any more tax than they are today".
Mr Morrison told the National Press Club last week that the PPL levy was "not portable" and and a childcare levy would need a new debate. The government has also talked of the need to find "savings" elsewhere.
The Coalition released the Productivity Commission's final report into the childcare sector earlier this month, to mixed reviews.
The report recommends that the government's multiple childcare payments are rolled into one means-tested subsidy and that funding is based on an hourly rate, benchmarked against the median price of various types of childcare.
Childcare groups, including Goodstart, argue this approach would see thousands of parents lose out.
The Productivity Commission was instructed by government to make suggestions within existing childcare funding. It came back with a very modest prediction that only 16,400 extra mothers would enter the workforce as a result of its recommendations.
