Page 299 - Week 01 - Thursday, 12 February 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Of course, when one talks about early childhood education, it is closely linked with affordability of child care, and for families in the ACT that is a serious issue. We have the highest cost of child care of any jurisdiction, and it is rising faster than in any other state.
The minister, Ms Burch, is on the public record as saying that the ACT government has no role to play in the cost of child care. She argues that fees set by childcare centres are for those centres to determine. What she fails to acknowledge is the impact that the implementation of the national quality framework for children has. She has been quoted as suggesting it is zero, when clearly it is not. It is just another example of this minister being out of touch with Canberra families and out of touch with the impact of policies administered by her directorate.
I recall Ms Berry last year moved a motion on early childhood education, which could have been an opportunity to talk of all the positive things that are happening in early childhood education and the fact that the federal coalition government has moved quickly to set up an inquiry into this vexed issue. Instead Ms Berry saw it as an opportunity to take a swipe at the federal government, failing to acknowledge that the Productivity Commission had only delivered a draft report and they and the federal government were still awaiting public comment before moving to publication of a final report.
That final report on the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into child care and early childhood learning was delivered to the federal government on 3 November. The government now has 25 parliamentary sitting days before it is required to make public the commission’s findings and to announce what its plans are for this area. So it is speculative in the least for any comment to be made about what that report might contain, but I think it is appropriate for us to have a look at what the Hon Sussan Ley, the Assistant Minister for Education, said on Monday, 3 November when she welcomed the Productivity Commission’s completion of their inquiry into child care and early childhood learning. I quote from her statement about the report:
The Abbott Government tasked this Inquiry as one of our first priorities upon taking office late last year in line with our commitment to make child care more affordable, flexible and accessible for Australian families.
This has been the largest review of the child care system since the 1990s and I thank the Productivity Commission for their hard work and dedication over the past 12 months.
I would also like to thank the thousands of Australians who embraced this once-in-a-generation opportunity to work together to build a better child care system for Australian families, with 2,081 submissions and comments in total.
What this process has overwhelmingly confirmed is that Australian families are struggling as a direct result of child care fees increasing 53 per cent under Labor’s watch and want change.
Access to affordable child care is considered the biggest barrier to workforce participation for women, which in turn impacts on everything from the household budget to the national economy.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video