Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

supports a universal right to early learning for all Australian four-year-olds through the introduction of an entitlement to 15 hours of play-based learning per week, for a minimum of forty weeks per year, delivered by a qualified teacher;

(2)

is committed to providing extra financial assistance to build additional childcare centres on primary school grounds and other community land in partnership with childcare providers;

(3)

calls on the Government to increase the number of fully-funded university places in early childhood education to address the shortage of childcare provision across Australia;

(4)

calls on the Government to introduce a 50 per cent HECS remission for 10,000 early childhood graduates working in areas of need;

(5)

calls on the Government to eliminate TAFE fees for childcare trainees; and

(6)

supports the transfer of responsibility for early childhood education and childcare into the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training with a new Office of Early Childhood Education.

I move this motion because it is time for this government to treat seriously the childcare issues that so many Australian families are grappling with on a daily basis. It is long overdue. This motion calls on the House to draw attention to Australia’s childcare crisis. I call on the government to support Labor’s solution to this crisis.

When it comes to child care and early childhood education, the Howard government is nothing short of delusional. So out of touch is the Treasurer that his own department is denying the existence of a childcare crisis. The Treasurer needs to start listening to the normal Australian families in his electorate—or in any Australian electorate. If he does, he will find a mum down the street who desperately wants to return to work but cannot see the incentive to do so when she is paying such high childcare fees and finding it so difficult to find a place. He will find a couple, too, who have been told that there are plenty of childcare places available to them—although they may be 100 kilometres or more down the road.

The real situation is that Australian parents are not being ‘too choosy’ when it comes to child care, as the Treasurer’s department has argued. In fact, they are facing enormous difficulties in finding childcare places. Just because places exist at some childcare centres does not imply that they are accessible. As the member for Jajajaga has pointed out on numerous occasions, what good is a place in Tamworth if you live in inner Sydney? The shortages that exist in Australia’s childcare system today are not ‘a function of consumer choice’, as the Treasury paper has argued, but real shortages caused by a lack of funding and a lack of trained childcare workers and teachers. Thousands of parents across Australia are desperate for a childcare place and do not appreciate being told by the Howard government that there are plenty of places.

Particularly in the areas of long day care and care for babies, Australia is facing a childcare crisis. On the issue of early childhood education for our youngest Australians, Australia is significantly lagging behind in investment by international standards. According to the OECD, Australia spends just 0.1 per cent of GDP on preschool education, compared with an OECD average of 0.5 per cent. An unsurprising result of this underinvestment is that Australian participation in early childhood learning is extremely low by international standards. According to the OECD, Australian children aged three and four are being left behind at an age that is critical for brain development and early learning and clearly predicts ongoing educational achievement.

The solution to this crisis must be multifaceted. Firstly, the government must introduce a universal right to early learning for all Australian four-year-olds and address the underinvestment in this critical area to ensure that Australian children are no longer left behind by international standards at this critical age of development. The Labor Party will achieve this by introducing an entitlement to 15 hours of play based learning per week, for a minimum of 40 weeks per year, delivered by a qualified teacher.

Secondly, the government must provide the additional financial assistance necessary to build more childcare centres. Labor have a clear policy that would put 260 childcare centres on primary school grounds to end the double drop-off, as we know how frustrating that can be for parents.

Thirdly, the government must work to train more teachers and provide incentives for people to train as childcare workers. The government needs to work harder at recruiting and training staff. This should be achieved by increasing the number of fully funded university places in early childhood education, a very wise start; introducing a 50 per cent HECS remission for 10,000 early childhood graduates working in areas of need, which is Labor’s policy; and eliminating TAFE fees for childcare trainees. We on this side of the House intend to encourage young people into childcare training to address this shortage.

I urge the government to stand behind Labor’s new childcare policy and to really start investing in our children’s future. The key issues here are that Australian children should be provided with the best possible opportunities for education and care and that child care should be of the highest quality, be affordable and be available. Labor have devised a plan to address each of these issues, and I urge the government and members opposite to support it.

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