Over the past century, child care in Australia has moved from being a peripheral matter – of interest mainly to charitable groups comprised of upper-class women and a few progressive educationalists – to a high profile, vigorously debated political and public policy issue. In the 1990s, child care is widely regarded as central to the economic and social goals of the nation. This book concerns the processes by which that transition has come about. Its underlying theme is the shift in the construction of child care from a philanthropic issue to one which is firmly located on the mainstream agenda of Australian politics.

In recent feminist scholarship, two approaches to child care provision have held centre-stage: the systems of extensive, state-funded provision exemplified by the Nordic countries (especially Sweden, Finland and Denmark); and the 'hands off approach of the British and American governments which effectively have no national policy in this area. Scandinavian, British and American writers have provided a number of excellent analyses of the history and politics of child care provision in their countries and some illuminating comparative studies (Borchorst 1990; Cohen 1988; Leira 1992; Ruggie 1984; Siim 1990; Ungerson 1990). An analytical framework which focuses on Britain and Sweden as the polar opposites of child care policy is employed in a recent discussion of child care in the OECD countries.