Shiftworkers get home childcare aid

Nannies will be subsidised for shiftworkers and parents in the bush struggling to find child care.

In the first major plank of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's long-awaited families package, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said the two-year pilot program would provide in-home care for about 10,000 children, many from low to middle-income households.

Police officers, nurses and emergency services workers are among those expected to benefit from the $246 million nannies program when it starts in January 2016.

Another priority is families from regional and rural areas, where there are a lack of places. Families with special-needs children will also be eligible.

The rate of subsidy will be adjusted in line with family income, and will be available to those earning less than $250,000 a year.

Subsidies will be paid on a per hour basis for each child to a service provider.

Nannies will need to work for an approved service provider and be at least 18 years old. Parents will not be able to use the subsidy to pay a family member.

Although the taxpayer-funded pilot runs for two years, the Gov-ernment has provided for it to be extended beyond 2017.

"This initiative demonstrates that the Abbott Government understands there are many families in work and wanting to work who find it difficult to access mainstream childcare services," Mr Morrison said. "The program will determine whether a more sustainable program can be affordably put in place for in-home care nanny services, including necessary integrity measures and quality standards."

Police Federation of Australia chief Mark Burgess welcomed the trial, saying more than half the nation's 60,000 officers did shiftwork one-third of the time. "Police are forced to pay a premium for child care because nine-to-five care is not feasible for us," he said.