Page 1458 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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Those of us who have had children will recall the difficulty we had in accessing childcare over the years, particularly when you first have children. I remember with my first child that it was very difficult. He ended up in two childcare centres, which was incredibly stressful. I would not like other families to have to go through that. You really want to be able to confirm your childcare, be able to get to know the organisation that is delivering it, build that rapport and relationship, because you are entrusting to them the care of your baby, your infant or your toddler. Therefore, it is important that we meet the demand out there in the community for quality childcare, whether that be short day care or long day care.
In this case, my understanding is that these 125 childcare places will be provided for a mixture of those. Many people would be having their children in the long day care. It is important to know that you have got the certainty, that it is going to be there from the day that you need it and that, as I said, you have time to be able to build that relationship with those who will be looking after your children for a number of days during the working week.
They are the reasons why we will not be supporting Mrs Dunne’s motion. We do want government projects to be at a minimum cost possible, and certainly we do expect economy and efficiency when government is building infrastructure. In the context of building childcare centres, I do note that there is an enormous range of factors, as I said, that go into building a contemporary childcare centre.
The Greens very much support the construction of high-quality childcare facilities. We think that the public investment in childcare is appropriate. I would make the point that the community and all governments across Australia support that public investment.
I think I have clearly outlined where we stand on this issue. I am still a little unclear about why Mrs Dunne has brought this on for debate today. I note that she has raised concerns around the delivery of other infrastructure projects or other projects throughout the ACT. But there have been others that have been delivered and there has been a quality product that has been delivered at the end, and I have touched on some of those. They include the community hubs and also that refurbishment of the Flynn site. It is an excellent childcare centre and they have done a great job.
I do think we need to get on with this. There are families out there today who are concerned about whether or not they are going to have childcare when they need it. We know that the demand is there. We know that we need to up the supply of places. Therefore, the Greens are loath to stop this project from delivering childcare in a timely manner.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (4.56): I rise today in support of Mrs Dunne’s motion calling on the government to reconsider the need to develop a childcare centre in Holder as a government asset. I make it very clear that this is not, as Ms Burch has tried to spin it, a motion that is against providing childcare services. I thought her speech was pretty appalling, to be honest, in terms of its vindictive attack on Mrs Dunne. It is a motion calling on the government to investigate whether this service should be provided by a non-profit organisation or by a commercial entity.
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