Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight this government's failure to deliver on its rhetoric in relation to providing affordable child care to all Australian families. This government is good at making big announcements but when it comes to delivering results on the ground it seems that regional communities always miss out. I have a copy of the Women's budget statement2011-12 where the Minister for the Status of Women refers to early childhood education and care and states:

Child care is essential in enabling parents who are primary carers ..., often women, to enter and remain in the workforce.

Feelgood statements like this do not deliver a service on the ground. This government promised to build 260 new childcare centres and it has delivered fewer than 40, with the minister claiming that private providers were covering the needs in our community. What about places where private providers will never go? What about the smaller regional and rural centres where there will never be enough people to make a childcare centre profitable for a private operator?

The government had a program to help those people in those communities as well. It was called the Take a Break program. Last year the Gillard government cut funding for that program as well. Just to save a miserable $12.6 million over four years, the Labor government withdrew a service and support for a childcare program which provided a service to regional communities which even the minister acknowledges is, and I quote the minister again:

... essential in enabling parents who are the primary carers ..., often women, to enter and remain in the workforce.

The federal government used to provide 70 per cent of the funding for this program. Now it provides nothing and that is exactly the level of service families in my electorate are likely to face within a few months.

The budget cuts were announced last year but the Victorian government at the time provided a stay of execution for these much-needed services, with funding continuing until the end of the current financial year. The new Victorian coalition government has provided another reprieve with funding guaranteed until the end of December. But if the Gillard government does not come good with its support, this program will be abolished.

Those opposite might think I am exaggerating the importance of this service, so let me quote from some of the letters I have received in the past week and forwarded to the minister's office. One from Lenore Richardson at Swifts Creek states: 'Being so far from any other town, it is impossible for families to make other arrangements regarding child care. Some young families do not have the support of a family member to help them. This could result in them having to leave our district to find help and work. If the community centre loses funding for their child care, it will be a tragic loss to our whole community.'

Angela Savage, Executive Officer of the Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres, states: 'Gormandale is a low-income community under a lot of stress as a result of the 2009 bushfires. Increasing childcare fees is not an option for the community house. The service will be forced to close its doors. There is no public transport in the area and no alternative childcare service within 25 kilometres.'

Murray Kibble, Manager of the Swifts Creek Community Centre, explains: 'We already subsidise the services through fundraising and other activities run by the community centre to ensure it is affordable for families in the region. We use the funding purely to assist with the staff wages as per the amendments to the Children's Services Act made in May 2009. We still subsidise the direct wages of the childcare staff by an average of $8,000 per year.'

I call on the government to adopt to the coalition's policy position and reintroduce the $12.6 million occasional care funding which provides a vital service in regional areas like Swifts Creek, Gormandale and Hayfield. (Time expired)