Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the motion moved by the member for Fowler. Despite the wonderful oratory we just heard from the member for Hunter, I make the point that this motion is actually about access to those who can provide child care, not just those seeking to access it.

Many people may think that the electorates of Fowler and North Sydney have little in common, but we're more alike than not, especially when it comes to the issues of childcare affordability and availability. Like Fowler, and many other electorates across the country, North Sydney is a vibrant and diverse community, with 50 per cent of people living in the area having been born overseas and 30 per cent speaking a language other than English at home. Also, much like Fowler, families in North Sydney are suffering the knock-on effects of a severe shortage of early childhood care and education spots.

Research consistently shows the considerable economic benefits of spending on early childhood education and high-quality care—quite simply, the more families who can access early childhood education to help their child's development and enable parents to work as they wish, the better. But successive governments from both sides of the aisle, both federal and state, have failed to adequately monitor the needs of this sector. So we find ourselves requiring urgent and necessary reform.

Childcare fees in North Sydney are the highest in the country and run substantially above the government benefit rates. In North Sydney, for families on an average household income, the net cost after current subsidies of placing one child in day care five days a week is about $23,000 per year, or nearly 20 per cent of their income. These costs are negatively impacting many. They're preventing parents—most often mothers—from working when they would like to; deterring families, in some instances, from having more children; placing an expensive burden on older members of the family as they step in to help with care; and, perhaps worst of all, leading to missed opportunities for children to benefit from early education.

But, as is often the case, while those of us who sit in government may struggle to find ways forward, those in business or on the front line see opportunities for innovative ways to overcome hurdles. Today I stand to speak for those currently managing early childhood care and education facilities across my community to provide some insight into the challenges they have identified and, importantly, the possible solutions they see. I thank them in advance for their considered thoughts.

A long day care centre in Lane Cove recently told my office that every service in our area—and many more that they were aware of—were suffering immensely with respect to the dire skills shortage. The shortage of educators is, in their words, 'absolutely frightening', and, as business owners, they've had to consider the operations of their business. But, as small-business owners often do, whilst they see the challenges presented, they also give significant thought to potential solutions. They identified that many of their childcare educators are on student visas, the conditions of which mean they must move interstate or to a regional area in order to extend their visa or improve their pathway to permanent residency. This required move disrupts not only the centre but also the local community, where those people contribute significantly. They suggested, then, that the government consider changing this visa requirement for early childhood carers and educators to remove this disruption of the workforce. It's a simple and obvious solution, but I wonder how difficult it would be for us to enact.

We know we need at least 9,000 early educators to ensure services are able to accommodate the increasing demand for places for children. In this context, ensuring early educators are also paid appropriately for their skilled and valuable work is key. We must move to shore up the workforce by looking at temporary wage bonuses and addressing the 30 per cent wage disparity between early childhood educators and primary school teachers.

Another locally run centre highlighted the fee differentials between profit, not-for-profit and family run centres as a key concern. They suggested this could be addressed through reforms, including making child care tax deductible for working families at a certain level of combined income and then redirecting government funding to those most in need. These are just a few of the ideas they've come up with. The opportunity for us, as legislators, is to listen to this frontline experience, acknowledge the strength of the observations and then move accordingly. I note that the government is hosting an early childhood education and care roundtable in coming weeks. My call to the government is to not just listen but to move expediently to act.

Every child has a right to education. Whether they are in North Sydney or Fowler or anywhere else should be irrelevant.

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