Page 1165 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 28 March 2017
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3 o’clock in the afternoon, because that is when the equal pay stops. I think this is perhaps symptomatic of the perception around staff in the sector. That is something that we need to continue to combat.
I know that the quality of services available in the ACT, when measured by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority’s quality ratings, is definitely improving. That rating system has been in place for just a handful of years now and we are starting to see some relevant series data come through.
The ACT is definitely making progress. We have a number of centres here in the ACT—five or six of them—that have achieved the highest possible rating for their centres. That certainly stacks up very well nationally in terms of the proportion of centres. That is a testament to the dedication of the staff, the managers and in some cases the owners of the centres here in the territory.
The sector has certainly developed significantly since 2011. The sector has seen a growth in capacity since 2011 of approximately 39 per cent, with at least a further 900 places to be added in the next two years. This is certainly an issue that will need to be reflected on in coming years from a policy point of view. For a long time here in the ACT the big discussion was that you just could not get a place. People would essentially be putting their child on a waiting list the day they were born and really trying to find a place as early as possible.##
I have now heard reports, and there is certainly evidence around, that suggests that there is, in some areas at least, perhaps an over-supply of places. There are certainly vacancies around. I was actually chatting to one community member who is involved in one of the community services on the weekend. She is quite adamant that there is in fact a significant—I do not know if over-supply is the word to use; but certainly the supply has well and truly caught up. There are pressures on centres now. Some are struggling to actually achieve sufficient utilisation of their capacity to be financially viable.
This is a space that I think we need to watch very closely in the next couple of years. Certainly, in terms of the levers the ACT government has, we need to adjust them in such a way so as to ensure that the quality continues to improve and that we are very careful to get that supply and demand balance as close to right as possible.
At the same time, we must acknowledge that there are people who may simply see this as a business opportunity and who may wish to take that risk. It is a difficult one for the government to get that balance right, because we are also probably seeing a geographic difference in the way that that demand-supply equation is playing out.
Certainly, that is just one of the interesting issues that lies ahead for the early childhood and education care sector in the ACT. There are others. As I say, the quality rating system has certainly thrown up some interesting questions. I am sure that Minister Berry is thinking about those quite carefully. But as the sector continues to grow, I also hope that our community’s respect for the essential role that early childhood education and care plays in supporting all of our children in the city will continue to grow.
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