Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Our government has worked hard to make child care more affordable, more accessible and better quality for Australian children and their families. That is why we are investing a record $22.3 billion over the next four years in early childhood education and care—more than triple that invested by the former Liberal-National government in its last four years in office. It is why we so massively increased the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of parents' out-of-pocket costs and it is why we increased the cap from $4,354 per child per year, as it was under the coalition, to $7,500 per child per year now.

We are also making it easier than ever before to claim childcare assistance by paying the childcare rebate fortnightly, as the bills come in, rather than leaving parents to wait until the end of the year to receive any assistance. We understand the burden it can be on the family budget and have done more than any other government to assist parents with their childcare costs and reduce the percentage of their disposable income being spent on such fees.

We also understand that parents want the peace of mind that, when they drop their child off in the morning, they are placing them in the best of hands for quality care. All of the research now provides compelling evidence of the critical importance of the early years and that child care can never again be regarded simply as babysitting. We now know that at this stage, as up to 90 per cent of a child’s brain development occurs, we must offer the best early childhood education and care to contribute to the best outcomes for that child right throughout their life—their developmental outcomes, their social outcomes, their educational outcomes and their health outcomes. That is why we worked to secure agreement with every state and territory government, of all different political persuasions, to agree on the National Quality Framework, which is now nine months into implementation.

The effect of our government’s reforms on our childcare system has been remarkable, and I am today able to share some figures with the House which illustrate this clearly. Some of those opposite have tried to claim that our reforms are causing masses of families to turn their back on approved care, and to turn to what they refer to as 'backyard care'.

Let us today be very clear about the reality. There are more and more children using child care than ever before because of the steps we have taken to improve the quality and affordability for families. The figures I am about to outline make this very clear: in the year to September 2008, there was a 1.79 per cent increase in the number of children using care; in the following year, to September 2009, there was a 2.53 per cent increase; in the year to September 2010, there was a 4.56 per cent increase; and in the year to September 2011, there was an 8.97 per cent increase.

It was only a short time ago that we announced that Australia had reached the milestone of one million children using care. Today I can announce a new milestone for our early childhood education and care system. The 2011-12 figures show that, for the first time, there were 1.3 million children using child care over the year. This represents a 20.6 per cent increase in the number of children using care since 2007. The figures also show that an extra 664 approved childcare services opened during the 12-month period. These figures shows that there has been a 42 per cent increase in the number of approved childcare centres since we came to government. Never have we seen more children using child care in Australia and in so many childcare services.

More children are getting access to an early childhood education under our government. And more parents are getting the opportunity, for the first time, to return to work and make life better for them and their young families. This is a huge achievement for the sector, for our government and for the nation.

Of course the rapid expansion and growth also brings challenges. But I believe there are some practical things that can be done to make sure more children and families can access child care over the next four years. There are parents, mainly mothers, who cannot return to work and cannot even access the increased childcare assistance provided by the federal government, because they cannot first find a childcare place. In the quickly developing growth corridors, we need to ensure that new areas are not set up with these challenges.

In June, the Prime Minister and I participated in a live blog with Mamamia readers and we heard some of the stories about the difficulty some parents are facing with lack of childcare places. One mother said:

I have had my child on wait lists to get into Child care centres from before he was born. I am due to go back to work in August and they have all told me I won’t get a placement until next year. I am down on a Family day care list too and they too have told me not to hold out for that. I can’t afford a nanny’s daily rate, it is more than what I get paid—what ... am I going to do come August to pay the rent and feed my child????

Another mother said:

I listed my daughter for the Sutherland Shire council long day care in March, one week after she was born. I have been told the waiting list is long and I’ll be lucky to get even one day of care within a year. I want to go back to work but not having guaranteed childcare makes this nearly impossible.

A lack of childcare places doesn’t just affect those parents’ ability to make life better for themselves and their families; it also affects our country’s productivity—lost investment in skills, and lost potential in the development of our children, our future workforce.

We also know there are other childcare services with low occupancy rates.

Clearly we need better planning—better planning to ensure that supply is meeting the changing demographics of communities, and better planning to ensure excess demand does not result in further increases to childcare prices. Planning is a state and local government responsibility. But I believe that demand is now so high that, no matter what tier of government you are from, action to increase access to child care must be a top-order priority. That is why I have written to the states to prioritise work to overcome the barriers in their jurisdictions and to look at removing the barriers to the supply of childcare places where they are needed most. I am asking state, territory and local governments to take a hard look at whether zoning adequately reflects the childcare needs of communities in the 21st century—the needs of 1.3 million plus children in care.

We will also push to ensure that regulations and by-laws do not unduly restrict the number of childcare places in new services. I have personally heard from councils which automatically place greater barriers for child care with over 50 places—extra hurdles discouraging investment in much-needed community assets. We are asking state and local governments to look at ways of preventing the problem where new childcare centres are held up for years just to get development consent. We are asking them to look at making sure that building code requirements support the development of childcare services in inner metropolitan areas, not restrict them. We are asking that all governments work with developers to ensure that child care is an integral part of new housing developments, not an afterthought.

I am asking state and local governments to look at best practice in their jurisdiction and bring their ideas to the table about how we can build child-friendly cities and communities into the future. I have announced my intention to work through the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood Education to meet this challenge. Local government must be part of the solution and be involved in the way forward.

Our government wants more families to be able to benefit from our historic reforms and investment and we are determined to work to continue to remove barriers and ensure that this is the case.

I present a copy of my statement and I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Farrer to speak for 8½ minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Farrer speaking for a period not exceeding 8½ minutes.

Question agreed to.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I find it a real affront to Australian families that the Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare stands in this place and praises this government's efforts on child care. It does give an insight into just how out of touch this minister is with the struggles faced by ordinary Australian families. Australian families truly are doing it tough. This government has burdened them with higher electricity prices, rising grocery costs, rising private health insurance and, yes, rising childcare costs. The reality is that the cost of child care keeps spiralling upwards. Childcare fees have jumped 17 per cent in the last two years. The government has slashed the childcare rebate from $8,179 to $7,500 and ceased indexation, making parents even worse off. Many families say that child care is their biggest expense after their rent or mortgage.

These are the statistics that we should be focusing on today. According to ABS data, 110,000 Australian parents say they cannot access employment as they cannot find suitable or affordable child care. Many women are being prevented from re-entering the workforce, which is having a major impact on not only their future career progression but also their superannuation balance. Recent research by Suncorp indicated that women were retiring with up to $50,000 less in superannuation than men.

I have done more than 30 childcare roundtables recently—I have done more than consult via the Mamamia blog, impressive though I think that blog is—and I can assure the minister that affordability is front and centre with the parents that I have met. There are parents having to make the heartbreaking decision to leave the workforce because their wages do not cover the cost of child care. There are others who are forced into using backyard care. Those opposite are turning a blind eye. The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care was meant to see a higher standard of care for all children, but those outside the childcare system face a very different reality.

Now, the coalition do support the objectives of the national quality framework. We believe, we accept, that smaller teacher-to-child ratios lead to better-quality care for children. I like the efforts to professionalise the workforce in the early years learning framework, although I do have concerns about the quality of some certificate III level qualifications—but they are probably best saved for another day. The issue I do have with the national quality framework is the additional workload it creates for providers. The additional administrative burden is significant, and providers are bearing the cost. These costs, regrettably, are being passed on to families in most instances.

I would just like to touch on the figures that the minister presented today. Regrettably, according to her office, the figures that the minister for child care referred to are not yet public. However, when I compare today's quoted figure of 1.3 million children in child care over the year with the figure presented just last month in the August 2012 edition of the Office of Early Childhood Education and Child Care update, I find it says there were only 992,520 children in approved care over the year. These are the key findings for the September quarter of 2011. So I am not sure where the extra 300,000 children or childcare places have come from.

I also raise with the minister the fact that, as I understand it, if a child is in before-school care, they take up one place. If they also attend after-school care, they take up another place. If that same child is enrolled in vacation care, they take up a third place. This begs the question: why does the minister's department, DEEWR, persist in counting these places again and again, as if each represents one child, when in fact the same child in care is counting for three places? I understand the department has been briefed on the concerns about dubious figures from outside-school-hours care groups; I am not sure if the department has filled the minister in.

I understand, too, that at the recent DEEWR stakeholder meeting an increased utilisation rate of nine per cent was provided by the department . I do the sums here and based on this I get an increase of 100,000—nowhere near 300,000. Therefore, I remain sceptical as to the veracity of the statistics the minister has provided to the House today. I want to make the point that the number of places in care does not translate to available, affordable care and stays silent on the issues of the stress that families are under in affording child care to day.

Accuracy of the numbers aside, we are still seeing a very large number of Australian families using child care—of course we are. It is absolutely critical that we have the best system possible. We need a system which supports all families to take advantage of the economic opportunities of employment. Our police, firefighters, nurses and paramedics should be able to work shift work safe in the knowledge that their children are in the best hands, should they require child care.

I note the minister's suggestion to local councils that they need to ease their planning restrictions for childcare centres. Really it is quite pathetic for this minister to tell local government to sort out their planning issues if this is all the minister can do in response to the childcare crisis. It demonstrates the lack of leadership and understanding of the sector which is so characteristic of this government.

I am quite bemused by this whole ministerial statement. The minister has come into the House; she has released some dodgy stats from her department's annual report, which she will not yet release publicly; and, she said she is writing to local councils to ask them to facilitate child-friendly communities. I guess rhetorically that is not a bad thing to say but it is not describing actions of a determined policy-led government in looking for ways to sort out the mess that is in front of the minister in childcare policy.

There is no major philosophical divide on this issue between the government and the coalition. As I said, the coalition accent is the national quality framework, it supports the early years learning framework and it recognises the need to professionalise the industry. But the coalition recognises something that the government does not—that is, if all these changes ultimately lead to the cost of care that parents cannot afford, the perverse effects will be bad for society, be particularly bad for families and, most importantly, be bad for children. That is the point.

I accept that the minister wants to make a song and dance about the statistics. I would prefer to have further clarification of where they have come from and I also would make the point that they have been counted before the effects of the national quality framework really bite, which will happen in 2014 and in fact is beginning to happen already. You cannot consult with the childcare sector and not get the message. I have done 30 roundtables in the last six months in every single community around the country. I cannot understand why the minister has not received the message that members of the opposition have received.

As I said, we are not talking about a difference of philosophy in the area of child care; we are talking about the cost of child care for parents. The coalition recognises that the policy settings of 15 years ago will not apply to the next 15 years. We have a very sensible approach to ask the Productivity Commission to examine those settings, to have a look at the entire world of female participation in the workforce—usually it is female—and at the cost and availability of child care. The government does not support that Productivity Commission inquiry. It will be one of the first things we do when we are elected to government. We make an undertaking to the families of Australia that we will get this right for them. And a minister who wanders in here with a few statistics from an annual report and a couple of initiatives for local council, as if they cannot work out their own planning issues themselves, is, unfortunately, not honouring the commitment this government should be making.