When it comes to decisions about work and children – representation matter

Two weeks ago, the Victorian Government announced the closures of childcares for the second time in this pandemic. The debate about whether or not that decision was the ‘right’ one, is well beyond my expertise, but what I’m really interested in is how the Victorian Government went about making and communicating the decision that impacted on thousands of families.

Last year (in 2020), when childcare closures were announced, the Government fumbled the criteria – do both parents need to be authorized workers or just one? After declaring two parents needed to be authorized and then ultimately, after a few days of confusion and head scratching, announced that they really meant only one.

When the changes were announced at a press conference on a Sunday afternoon in 2020 (with a 5 month-old and a 3 year old at the time, it’s emblazoned in my memory), a savy journalist (who presumably had a childcare aged child), asked a question obvious to any one with a toddler – what about babysitters? Hmmm, said the Chief Health Officer, we’ll have to think about that and get back to you.

In 2020, only 5 months into a global pandemic, perhaps the ‘unprecedented times’ could explain away an inability to demonstrate even a basic understanding of the lives of parents of young children.

But just recently, almost exactly 12 months later, this same government repeated its obvious mistakes. In 2021, announcing that both parents were required to be authorized workers and then amending the directions days later (just kidding, we meant 1, like last time) and also head scratching about what decision it would make on babysitters was. The inability to understand the nuts and bolts of the lives of young families, not once but twice, is, to be frank, mind blowing.

Apart from a demonstrable inability to contingency plan a year and a half into a crisis that is becoming significantly more predictable, the thing that struck me was that these decisions are made by (mostly) men in their 50s (who have significant support in the care of their children, usually by their wives) and then implemented by (mostly) men in their 20s.

These decisions and the enormous impacts they have, specifically on women – are why we need more diversity in all the places where decisions are made. Spring Street and Canberra, unfortunately, remain no exception.