The operator of a rapidly growing network of high-end childcare centres has urged the federal government not to means test the childcare rebate as part of its long-awaited family policy announcement.

Brendan McAssey, the owner and chief executive of Only About Children, said a recommendation from the Productivity Commission's draft report into the $9 billion sector to means test the childcare rebate was not sophisticated policy.

Brendan McAssey, with his three-year-old son Stirling, opposes means testing of the childcare rebate. Credit:Louise Kennerley

"The difficulty that I have with the proposal ... is it's a one size fits all," he said.

The federal government pays 50 per cent of the cost of childcare, up to a cap of $7500 a year. The total subsidy to the sector, from the rebate and the childcare benefit, is $5 billion a year and growing. The commission recommended combining the rebate and the benefit to be paid as one payment, which would be means tested.