Podcast: Childcare for profit or not for profit, that is the question
Posted on 08 Jul 2025
By Greg Thom, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia
The head of a leading child support charity has told the Community Advocate podcast the time has come for Australians to have a proper debate about the merits of profit-based childcare.
Act for Kids CEO Dr Katrina Lines said monetising caring for kids created a potential conflict when investing in quality care was viewed as an impediment to making bigger profits.
“If you’re thinking about kids as a commodity and childcare as a commodity, that’s an ethical conflict for me,” said Dr Lines.
“Because from a societal perspective, it’s something we should be responsible for and investing in rather than creating a profit from.”
Established in 1988, Act for Kids provides evidence-led professional therapy and support services to children and families who have experienced or are at risk of harm.
Dr Lines comments followed a week of upheaval in the nations childcare system, following disturbing revelations of alleged systemic sexual abuse of children.
Dr Lines said while not all for profit childcare operators prioritised making money over investing in quality care, their not-for-profit (NFP) equivalents had no such conflict.
“On the flip side of that though, we often struggle as not-for-profits to have adequate funding to cover all of our needs, so we do everything on the smell of an oily rag or fundraise to fill the gaps.”
Lines said the high cost of living meant working parents often had no other option than to pay high childcare costs while struggling to pay the mortgage and other bills.
The events of the past week would only have increased stress for many parents with children in childcare.
"None of us wants to think of our kids in childcare where they're meant to be safe and cared for being harmed," said Lines.
"Having to work is not a choice, so we need high quality childcare for kids. As a society we need to be investing in that."
Lines said this made it even more vital for government to step up and look for new ways to invest in high quality childcare that nurtures healthy, developing kids.
“Because those kids are going to grow up to be the workforce of the future, so you’d think it would be in the best interests of us as a community [to invest], because that’s where our tax dollars go, in nurturing kids.
"I think that’s where the conflict [between profit and childcare] comes up for me."
Listen to the full interview with Dr Katrina Lines on the Community Advocate podcast.