Page 304 - Week 01 - Thursday, 12 February 2015
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For the minister to say that they are pulling all the levers they can to ensure that the number of places is increasing and that the cost comes down leaves a lot to be desired, when just across the border in New South Wales the average is $47 a week less. Given that the frameworks and the standards are largely nationally driven—and the award is a national award, so there is consistency amongst pay rates and the standard of care that needs to be delivered—it means that the costs that are associated with providing care in the ACT compared to across the border, having regard to what service operators are paying in rates, land tax charges, and in insurance, such as workers compensation insurance––
Ms Burch: They are community-based organisations with subsidised rent.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Dr Bourke): Order, members!
MR WALL: If they are on subsidised rent, minister, why is it dearer than in a for-profit across the border? Why is it dearer? It is a question that the minister needs to answer. If we are giving concessions and handouts to community organisations and we still have the dearest level of care in the ACT, it shows that a lot needs to be done on the same things that challenge all businesses in this territory—the cost of workers compensation insurance, the cost of professional indemnity insurance, the cost of hiring, employing and carrying on staff, and the costs associated with running a business in this territory.
A frustration that most families face is weighing up the choices—to send their children into day care and return to work, and in many cases simply to cover what the cost of the child care is, or to stay home and forgo the professional development and the opportunity to continue a career, and spend time at home with their children. It is a difficult decision for a lot of families—including my own—to weigh up. But the more that the cost of child care continues to increase, regardless of the quality of it, the less uptake of it we are going to see, and the more pressure will be put on the local economy and on local household budgets, making it harder for people to get ahead.
I will touch on one point that Minister Burch spoke about—that is, the training and qualifications of staff within the early childhood education sector. Again the Productivity Commission report highlights quite an alarming statistic in the ACT—that is, we currently have the lowest level of qualification within this sector. Just on 50 per cent of the workforce in Canberra childcare centres actually have a formal qualification at certificate III level or above. So not only are we paying at the highest level in the country for the service, but the staff that are delivering it have one of the lowest uptake levels for a professional qualification. For many families that will ring alarm bells, in that the people they are leaving their most valuable family member with, their son or daughter, to be cared for each day do not necessarily have the mandated minimum qualification required to work in the sector.
I think there is a long way to go in improving access to child care in the territory and the affordability of child care in the territory. I look forward to seeing what alternatives this government put forward to address a problem that largely they have been responsible for whilst they have been at the helm for the previous 16 years.
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