Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When most Australians looked at a press release from the Liberal Party on 18 March that 'the government would ensure Australian families can access affordable child care when and where they needed it', few Australians would have interpreted that as being in line with the government's conduct since then. What we have seen is a slashing of $1 billion from the childcare area of this nation, and more particularly today, a week after an action exposed the way in which the budget most particularly hurt Australians of lower incomes, we address one particular facet of this—family day care.

Family day care is accented towards those people who work on weekends, work shifts; they are the people who particularly need this. It comes at a time when we have seen the diminishment of their wages through a tax on penalty rates and weekend rates. In New South Wales—I cannot speak about other states—it is also particularly utilised by Indigenous families. It is specified that a significant number of family day care centre providers—30 per cent in fact—cater for children with disabilities.

The quotes in regard to the value of this are manifest. Julia Davison, the CEO of Good Start Early Learning commented:

We have a situation today, where Christian Community Aid Family Day Care service manager Janice Francis can comment:

That is the outcome of government policies.

It has also been noted widely that an area particularly affected will be western Sydney. It is estimated that nationally 80 per cent of services throughout the country will be assaulted by these changes in a very real financial fashion. But out in western Sydney, 133 centres face some form of contraction of their income through these changes.

I cite locally the situation of the Campbelltown City Council. Its Liberal-Liberal Democrat controlled majority faces some very unattractive options according to their own indicators. The options they have as a result of these federal government Liberal policies are, one, to cover the cost, unbudgeted for, through their own resources; two, to pass on the cost to user parents; or, three, to discontinue the services and sack employees and educators in that sector.

I cite comments from Ms Mona Kelada from Eagle Vale—a person affected directly by this—who says, 'Should these changes take effect in their current form and time frame, the families who use my service will face potentially unaffordable fee increases or worse. If our community cannot sustain fee increases, our service may be forced to close its doors. Without family day care I will no longer be able to provide family day care, and my small business will be forced to close, leaving the families who use my service without care and me unemployed.'

It is estimated that the maximum amount of money that Campbelltown City Council would obtain in the best-case scenario is $250,000. Last year the cost was in the area of $330,000. So we see a long-term provider that has been in the provision area since 1977, who was an option other than commercial operations, being very seriously threatened.

The situation is contrasted with the other initiative of the government. When they can cut $1 billion from child care in general and they can slash $157 million from family day care, they can find—despite the dire warnings about the budget—$5.5 billion to provide parental leave for more wealthy Australians. So what we see in Campbelltown and Liverpool is a major threat to the viability of family day care centres.

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

I know that the speaker on the opposite side of the chamber is a very passionate defender of the parental leave policy—one of the few in the government, it seems, who is still supportive—but obviously there have been very serious attacks on family day care. It is a threat to people that they will not have a service. We have a situation where all the organisations in the country that are interested in children and in the service have denounced this and called for further consultation and change.

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not deny the member for Werriwa's passion. I do not deny that at all. Indeed, good providers all around the country have struggled. They provide really important services, but under the previous government the budget for this program blew out by $200 million. It was just another in the long list of poorly managed programs. There is no doubt it was well intentioned, but the program was poorly managed.

I note the minister's comments in recent days on radio and in an interview, I think, a couple of days ago, with Louise Yaxley—who was born in my electorate some time ago and is now living in Canberra—that there are scams and rorts that are being undertaken in some parts of the country. Nobody accepts that, and this tarnishes the reputation of the good operators—where the money should be going.

I am very interested in this subject because Tasmania was one of the first places in Australia to provide this valuable and different kind of childcare service. In fact, family day care started in Tasmania in the mid-1970s, more than a decade before the national body claims the start of Family Day Care Australia in a cottage in the beachside suburb of Avoca in New South Wales in 1988. That is something we will have to rectify the record on, because the first day care centre service was actually established in Glenorchy, in the electorate of the member for Denison—a Hobart suburb—in 1974. It was followed closely by the Launceston Family Day Care service in northern Tasmania in November 1975. The Glenorchy service is no longer operating, but the Launceston one very much is. It has developed to provide child care across northern Tasmania—not just within Launceston, I should add, but in the country towns and regional communities in my electorate in northern Tasmania.

The northern Tasmania organisation was started by a woman by the name of Sheena Butler, a pioneer in her field who lived for many years at Rosevears in my electorate of Lyons. The organisation that Sheena established and ran for many years fills a void in childcare services and now provides services across northern Tasmanian country towns. It is a multipurpose service now and has even raised funds to build centres in rural areas as a base for additional services. It has just leased new premises at Longford, which will open part time in a couple of weeks and which will be fully up and running after Christmas as a base in northern Tasmania, alongside its Launceston central office.

Its regional arm, called Launceston Regional Family Day Care, is still often the only childcare service in towns across my electorate of Lyons—towns such as Cressy, Perth, Longford, Carrick, Evandale, Westbury, Campbell Town, Scamander and Beaconsfield on the West Tamar. All 25 educators of Launceston Regional Family Day Care services are located outside the organisation's central city office and provide more than 3,500 hours of child care to 300 children across the electorate of Lyons every week. The Launceston Regional Family Day Care director, Pam Johns, contacted my office last month to seek clarification regarding the Community Support Program funding for family day care services nationally. We were very happy to inform Ms Johns that we are making sure that the money goes to support the sorts of organisations it was originally designed to support. She was a little concerned about future eligibility, and we were able to tell her that the changes to the community support program this year were not in fact a budget cut but will benefit services very much like the ones she is concerned about. In fact, because of the extraordinary growth in the family day care sector since 2006, the Community Support Program exceeded its budget under the previous government, as we are all well aware, by $200 million.

Indeed, it was another Labor budget blow-out. Unfortunately, coming to light there were areas of the country that are inappropriately using this very worthwhile scheme. We will get it back under control. It cannot go on like this, particularly under the budget circumstances we have inherited. We will fix this. The Community Support Program has in fact been brought back within its current funding allocation. The introduction of eligibility criteria for family day care services will enable Community Support Program funding to be directed towards services in regional, remote and disadvantaged communities, which was its original intention, so that funding is targeted where it is most needed.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Charlton. Before turning to questions specifically about family day care, let me say this: it is clear to Labor members of this House that Australia's future productivity depends in large part on getting child care right. For us, this means giving every child every chance for the best start in life through early childhood education of the highest quality. It also means giving their parents every choice in balancing family and work responsibilities. Those are Labor's priorities. The contrast could not be starker with this government's unfair and unaffordable paid parental leave. As part of this challenge, family day care presently offers quality, flexible early childhood education where it is needed most. The $157 million cut in funding is putting hundreds of services at risk of closure or forcing them to increase fees and pushing families away.

I saw firsthand the valuable contribution family day care makes to our community in Scullin when I visited Boori Children's Services in Epping. Boori Children's Services Centre is part of the Whittlesea Family Day Care Scheme, providing family day care for 214 children and coordinated by the city of Whittlesea. I was struck by the passion and commitment of the educators there, as well as how much the children obviously enjoyed being there. Families right across Scullin will be impacted by these cruel and petty cuts, none of which were promised before the last election—another nasty surprise from this government. Families will either have to pay more in fees or see their children out of care when services close. If services choose to stay open, Family Day Care Australia estimates that fees will rise by around $35 a week as a result of this funding cut. Many families in Scullin simply cannot afford the cuts, the closures or the cost increases.

One reason this will have such an impact is the flexibility this service offers to parents. Some children are there every day of the week and some are there just one day a week. This suits local families and it suits the children. Every child has their own education program and a personal relationship with the educators. At Boori Children's Services Centre, one of the educators, Karen Hassed, has been there for over 20 years. She started when her child attended, and she has been there ever since. This is a sign of a commitment to the service that the government simply cannot or will not comprehend. In total, there are 26 educators employed at this centre, all of whom, as I have seen, share the same level of passion and professionalism in their work. It is important that we recognise in this place the professionalism and the education role that staff play. They are educators with professional qualifications. These centres are places of learning as much as they are places of care and support. These staff deserve to be treated with respect.

The City of Whittlesea estimates that $85,000 in funding will be cut from the Whittlesea family day care scheme from July next year. This will force this service to either close or increase its fees, placing a substantial impost on families, many of whom are struggling. The Whittlesea family day care scheme is only one of nine family day care services in Scullin which will be affected by these funding cuts. The others are Nillumbik family day care scheme; Al Raja family day care; Gabow family day care; Greater Tomorrow family day care service; KW 5 Star Kids Services; Our Future family day care; and Shine Bright family day care. Family day care has been operating in Australia for over 35 years. It is part of the community fabric. In outer-suburban communities, such as the ones that I represent, it is particularly important in offering families real choice to balance the competing elements of their lives. I remind the House that, before the election, the Prime Minister promised there would be no cuts to education. But this budget cuts $1 billion of funding out of early childhood services. Australian families and early childhood educators deserve better.

I thank the Early Years Program coordinator, Penny Karagaslis; the coordination and support officer, Jo Foster; and educators Tina Nguyen, Karen Hassed, Trudi Abbott, Ramani Perera and Narelle Groves at Boori Children's Services Centre for showing me firsthand the real impact of the valuable work they do and the contribution they make every day to our community. High-quality, accessible and affordable child care is a fundamental responsibility for a national government committed to boosting employment participation and giving our children every chance for the best start in life. Supporting family day care is an important element of this. The motion is to be supported.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to speak on this PMB because it is an issue I have followed quite closely. In recent months family day care providers have contacted my office about their campaign. Families need family day care. I invited a number of those providers to attend a forum in Bundaberg, at the northern end of my electorate, where they raised their concerns directly with the Assistant Minister for Education, Susan Ley. I thank the assistant minister for making herself available and for her genuine engagement. In Hinkler, as at June 2013, 6,780 children from 4,730 families attend 83 childcare services of all types. On average, Hinkler families paid $6.15 per hour per child, compared to $6.50 in Queensland and $7.35 nationally. One Hinkler family day care provider says it has calculated that the changes we are making to the Community Support Program will increase fees by $5 per week per child. But it is important to note that CSP is not a fee assistance program and is not paid direct to the educator or parents. CSP is an operational payment paid direct to family day care services to assist them in establishing or maintaining services in areas where they might otherwise be unviable or unable to meet the requirements of the community, particularly in disadvantaged, regional and remote areas.

In 2006 the eligibility criteria were relaxed for family day care providers to help grow the then fledgling sector. Strict criteria remained in place for all other childcare service types. Family day care is now a viable sector in metropolitan areas. In our major cities there has been a 74 per cent increase in new services. By contrast, the number of services operating in regional and remote areas has declined since 2011.

So we are changing the eligibility criteria from 1 July next year so that CSP criteria for family day care is better targeted towards regional, remote and disadvantaged communities where there is unmet demand or market failure. Total operation support payments through the CSP to family day care services will be capped at $250,000 per financial year to ensure the funding is distributed more equitably. The changes will also bring support for family day care services into line with other types of child care such as long day care and outside school hours care.

A report in 2012 by the Australian National Audit Office found that family day care was receiving 71 per cent of the total CSP budget, despite only caring for about 10 per cent of the children. The report highlighted the growing problem with CSP and recommended its eligibility guidelines be reviewed. Labor ignored the report, allowing the CSP budget to blow out by another $200 million over three years. They favoured inequity, debt and financial mismanagement over rocking the boat in the lead-up to an election.

We will not take our eyes off the ball. At the weekend it was revealed that the Abbott government's new childcare compliance task force had taken action against 24 childcare services since July, issuing 256 fines totalling $1.74 million. Alarmingly, family day care made up over 90 per cent of offenders. About half of the 22 non-compliant family day care coordination services were fined for making excessive claims for payments on behalf of children in their care, often unbeknown to parents.

Parents in my electorate have joined the Families Need Family Day Care campaign, but I question whether they have all the facts about the CSP program. The flyer they have signed says parents face uncertainty around increasing fees, service closures and even their capacity to remain in the workforce. As I said previously, CSP is not a fee assistance program. Parents using approved care can still apply for the child care benefit, or CCB, and child care rebate to assist with the costs of care. Parents using approved family day care receive a rate of assistance 33.3 per cent higher then parents using long day care. The maximum rate of CCB for one child in family day care is $5.32 per hour, compared to CCB of $3.99 per hour for other care. The coalition government is providing $28.5 billion over four years to assist families with childcare costs.

As a father of three, I understand how important family day care is to the Hinkler community. As someone who has three children, I have used all types of child care services, including family day care with people like Kim Wheat who had children of a similar age. My children have grown up in some of those environments and it was fantastic for them. Quality services that operate outside traditional hours are vital to families with working parents, particularly those who do shift work. That is why the government has designed a business development package to assist family day care providers to make the transition. The package includes access to a range of business workshops and webinars as well as professional development, support and resources.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As there are no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Sittings suspended from 13:18 to 16:00