Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the subject of child care. In a perfect world, the issue of access to child care would be considered a luxury. Unfortunately, in today’s economy, with a shortage of participants in the workforce, affordable commercial child care becomes a necessity if we are to maintain our standard of living and improve our balance of trade. I am acutely aware of enormous problems that exist across my electorate for parents wishing to participate in the workforce and being able to access affordable child care. Whilst I encourage the budget measures to improve the child-care system, and I am confident they will have some positive impact on the situation, availability of child care for parents in regional and remote areas remains a critical issue. My office receives regular contact from constituents complaining that there is no child care available in their town. Some say they cannot even get on a waiting list. A constituent in Port Hedland called recently to say that she and her husband had to take it in turns to go to work in order to look after their son.

I conducted a check across my electorate and found there are approximately 30 centres in all, about the same number as in the Sydney CBD alone, and generally speaking parents have little to no chance of securing a place for their babies in less than 12 months. There is availability in most towns for older children but parents cannot choose times or days because there may be only one place for half a day on one day per week. Full-time care is rare and in huge demand with very long waiting lists. Calls to child-care centres provided the following information. The worst affected towns are Carnarvon, Newman, Tom Price and Meekatharra. Tom Price, with a population of 3½ thousand, has one centre with some availability for certain times and certain days and a 12-month waiting list for babies. Meekatharra, with a population of 1,500, has no centre. The nearest centre is in Newman, four hours drive away. There is one playground in town but, sadly, that is only for Indigenous children. In Newman the population is 4½ thousand and there is one centre. There is a waiting list of six months due to the rapid expansion of the town and a lack of qualified staff. Carnarvon has a population of 6½ thousand and one centre. It has a full and very extensive waiting list.

With the exception of Carnarvon, mining is the major economic activity in these towns and across my electorate. The industry is vital for Australia’s economy and right now the federal electorate of Kalgoorlie is driving Australia’s economic boom. The major problem in remote centres is that the base population is lower; the percentage of employable population in full-time employment is higher, where everyone is wearing many, many hats. Therefore the need is greater but the availability of qualified carers is less. I applaud the insistence on high standards being set and the need for qualified staff, but more needs to be done to encourage people to undertake child-care courses. In some towns in my electorate there is one qualified child-care worker. Employers are currently offering premium terms, conditions and rates of pay in order to attract and retain staff. The current $2.88 per hour paid to centres is insufficient and child-care centres are in financial jeopardy.

The lack of a career structure and poor rates of pay need to be reviewed in order to encourage people to become child-care workers. A career structure needs to be created to discourage those who are qualified from leaving child care for other industries such as teaching. The high cost of living in the bush and the isolation make it incredibly difficult to attract staff. Once again I would remind my colleagues that the review of the taxation zone rebate payable would make a difference to attracting population to these centres.

The taxation zone rebate introduced in 1945 was considered the answer to attracting employees away from cities and into remote areas. Since 1945 the value of that payment has deteriorated to the point where it is almost not worth the time it takes to claim it. I say once again that an increase to $5,000 and up to $7,000 per annum in the taxation zone rebate would make those situations in remote Australia far more appealing. As a government our policy is to encourage participation in the workforce by everyone who is able to work. More must be done to support parents who want to work, and this means doing more to provide affordable day care.