Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to order and at the request of the chair of the Education and Employment References Committee, I present the report on the delivery of quality and affordable early childhood education and care services, and the report on the immediate future of the childcare sector in Australia, together with the Hansard records of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the reports be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I would like to thank the committee and the secretariat for managing these two references which we did together. I also want to thank the sector for presenting us with very good evidence. We received very solid evidence at three or four hearings a couple of months ago about quality childcare in this country. I thank everyone for their participation.

In my remarks today I would really like to focus on the importance of quality in early childhood education and care. That was probably a feature of the submissions we heard from the sector. Even the one or two operators in the sector who find complying with the new national quality frameworks onerous. Generally speaking, the national quality framework is all about quality and was very well received by the sector. The sector was very concerned to make sure that the reforms that have been put in place and the time frames going forward were absolutely kept in place. A number of concerns were raised about slowing those reforms down.

Quality was high on the agenda; especially the need for young children in early childhood education and care between the ages of newborn up to age six get the best-quality care possible. We know the academic research is there about brain development, particularly for children from birth to the age of three. That is when the most rapid brain development occurs. For children who are being educated and cared for outside of the home, it is absolutely paramount that there is this complete focus on quality, and that everything we do in education and care services has the wellbeing of children and the advancement of their development front and centre.

It is a bit of a report card really on the Labor government's achievements in early childhood education and care. So it was pleasing to hear that it was such a positive report card. As a former teacher I would say it was an A+. The sector absolutely and overwhelmingly endorsed Labor's national quality reforms. Some of those reforms are about achieving much more acceptable educator-to-child ratios. We have seen that being standardised across the country. We are still going through those reforms as I speak, but they are on track. Most of the reforms are now done, and we have the same standards applying across the country—as we would expect; we do not want different standards of educator-to-child ratios being permitted in different states. That is a real positive.

The early years quality framework which sets out the sorts of learning experiences and challenges that young children should be experiencing in the service was well received and complemented the work that quality centres are already providing. So we got a lot of positive feedback on that. Not only were services complimenting the former Labor government's child-centred approach; we also heard from the governing authority, ACECQA, who stressed in their submissions and their verbal evidence that the NQF was designed to realise these education and development outcomes for children—not just children to be supported by parents—and families, and also for Australia's long-term prosperity. We heard that over and over again from academics, service providers and associations. Dr Anne Kennedy, who is the National Secretary of the Australian Community Children's Services, commonly known as ACCS throughout the sector, went further by stating that:

… the COAG agreement … endorsing the national quality framework agenda is the most significant event in the history of education and care services in Australia.

Dr Kennedy then told us:

We are the first federated nation to achieve national reform on this scale.

This is a very strong endorsement by ACCS. As someone who, prior to becoming a senator, had a long-term involvement with early childhood, education and care in this country, I would echo those sentiments and views. What we have done in the early childhood education and care space is historic and it is absolutely a positive benefit for children, parents and our long-term economic viability.

It is a little sad—more than sad; it is critical for the current government to continue the reforms that are in the sector and not to be seduced by the minority of voices in the sector who are calling for the national quality reforms to be scaled back. We have seen some attacks on the child care benefit but we have a reference coming up on that, so I will reserve my comments until later.

The opposition to Labor's reforms was weak and unrepresentative. Those criticisms mainly came from a submission by the Australian Childcare Alliance. They did not quote academic research but compiled their views from feedback from a member's survey, and that survey in and of itself attracted a very low response rate—just eight per cent of their reported membership.

They say they are the major alliance for long day-care services across the country but, even so, whilst their comments were negative, particularly in relation to children under the age of two and the requirement to have teachers in place, their submission only represented six per cent of the total number of long day-care services in Australia. To put that into perspective, there are more than 6,000 long day-care services in Australia, and so for the government to be hoodwinked by an association which at best has comment from just six per cent of the sector is quite erroneous.

The vast bulk of the sector, large providers—in fact, the largest provider in Australia, Goodstart, commended the reforms, and their submission is a worthy one. It is well researched. It relies on academic studies, and Goodstart are in a very strong position, because they have services in every single state and territory across the country, to be making comments about the implementation of the National Quality Framework.

Let's not forget that Goodstart picked up the failed ABC centres, many of which were performing extremely badly. Goodstart have had to put a lot of funds into those services to make them the quality services that they are today. Their submission was an absolute endorsement of quality education and care in Australia and they urged the federal government to keep going with that.

We did hear of services that are struggling—for example, in Western Australia we heard from a rural centre in Merredin, struggling to attract teachers. But that centre also seemed to be unaware of the funding that the Western Australian government has made available through its Royalties for Regions which they could seek. Far be it for me to give a compliment to the Barnett government, but that funding is generous and available to regional centres. We will be talking to that Merredin service about what it needs to do to attract the sort of funding that will support it.

There is clearly a need for government to support regional centres more than it currently does. It is not appropriate to say, 'Just because you are a regional service, you can't compete for the services of a teacher in the way that a government primary school or a private school can' and that we somehow lessen that regulation. That is doing a disservice to children, and we do not want to see that. There is a little more work to be done.

I urge the government not to fold back those reforms that are underway. That is not the view of the sector, and I commend the report to the chamber.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would briefly like to add some comments in relation to the tabling of this report—I understand the reports have been tabled together. This is a really important process for the education committee to consider in relation to affordable child care, quality child care and the accessibility of early childhood and educational services. It is essential that we start to reform this sector from within but also from the view of the broader Australian community.

We know that childcare and early childhood education services are an essential service for over a million families across the country. We know that families rely on those services so that parents can return to work and juggle those work-life issues.

We also know how crucial quality education, early education and care services are to ensuring that we give our children the best start in life. They are the building blocks of educational development and experience for children. We know that the most crucial years are from zero to five. When we talk about the affordability, accessibility and the equality of child care, those three elements must be linked. It was very clear throughout this inquiry that the quality reforms that have been spearheaded by previous federal governments, together with the states, are crucial. But they are only going to deliver if they are funded properly. What is the point of putting up a reform agenda in the childcare space if we do not see the investment made to ensure that those reforms are sustainable in the future? That is why, here in the Greens, we are very concerned about the cuts in the child care and early childhood space under the current budget.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from the funding of child care, from delivering services, whether it is the childcare rebate—the latest bill by this government cuts funding from the childcare benefit, making parents have to pay even more for child care—changes and cuts to funding in family day care, or the looming cuts to the kindergarten universal access program. All of these cuts in funding are on top of the fact that these important quality reforms have not been funded properly either by this government or the previous government. For six years I have been saying in this place that, if we want to make sure these reforms work properly, we have to bankroll them. We actually have to put the resources in to ensure that we are not just cost shifting onto families.

Australian mums and dads want their children to get the best quality care they possibly can. But they need to be able to afford it. Families want to be able to ensure that they can get the best quality care, but you have to be able to find a place. Over and over again throughout this inquiry, we continued to hear that parents are struggling to find a place in many areas, particularly in the metro and inner suburban electorates. And then there is the issue of being able to afford rising childcare fees, which are a massive burden. Out in the rural and regional areas, being able to access a service that can deliver the type of flexibility that families need is an issue as well. Ensuring that good quality services are available for children, regardless of their postcode, should be a key indicator for any government, particularly for those of us in this place who are passionate about this issue.

There are some really good recommendations in this report, but they will mean nothing and they will come to nothing until we start realising that investing in early childhood education and care is a worthwhile investment in our children's future. The World Bank have done the research and they know. They say that, for every dollar that a nation-state puts into early childhood education services, there is a $17 return. That is good bang for your buck. But it means being bold and up-front and ensuring that we invest in those services from day one. I look forward to how this place and the government of the day respond to the recommendations outlined in this report. I commend it to the chamber.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to make some brief comments—in the interests of time, given the number of reports being presented today—on the two reports that have been presented by the Senate Education and Employment References Committee. From the coalition's perspective, access to flexible and affordable child care is essential for every young child and every working family in Australia—throughout regional and urban Australia. We have been very clear that we are committed to ensuring, in particular, women's participation in the workforce and that the child care underpinning that is appropriate.

We are equally committed to quality child care. For Senator Lines, and sometimes Senator Hanson-Young, to attack the coalition as if somehow we do not care about the quality of education for young Australians is completely spurious. But we do have to ensure that families can access child care that suits the purpose, that means that they can get on with doing their work. Not everybody is a public servant and not everybody works nine to five. I think about young families out on dairy farms where they have the morning milking and the evening milking, and police officers and nurses et cetera who need child care that is outside the hours of long day care.

We are committed to finding a holistic solution to a very modern and complex problem for the 21st century which will underpin productivity gains for our nation going forward. That is why we look forward to the Productivity Commission bringing down its report, for which it has actually gone out and consulted. Rather than continually, in an ad hoc manner, adding and subtracting to an increasingly complex childcare system, we have taken a step back and we are looking forward to receiving the recommendations from the Productivity Commission, which we can then have a think about, combine our philosophical approach to these matters and come up with a policy that will serve Australia going forward into the 21st century.

I want to note some comments made in the House of Representatives by the Assistant Minister for Education, Sussan Ley:

When you consider that childcare fees skyrocketed 53 per cent under Labor and out-of-pocket costs increased by up to 40 per cent for families in Labor's last four years, it is abundantly clear that the current situation is unsustainable for families and for government, making it critically important that we shape new policy for the next generation.

When Senator Lines comes in and trumpets the ALP report card on child care, I think it is very pertinent to put the facts on the table. 'Don't let the facts get in the way of a good smear campaign,' seems to be the modus operandi of the opposition at present. I just wanted to get that on the record. A recent Department of Education report confirmed what the minister said—that, under Labor, the average hourly long day care fee went from $5 per hour in September 2007 to $7.65 per hour in September 2013. That is almost $75 extra per week in fees for an average family using long day care, or more than $3,500 extra per year. That rises to more than $130 per week, or $6,300 per year, if you use child care full time for 50 hours per week.

We heard a lot of evidence through both these inquiries that spoke to the regulatory burden of the national quality framework, but, additionally, to its implementation, and that is one thing our government is committed to doing: actually reducing the regulatory burden, not just on child care, and not just in higher education, or, indeed, primary and secondary education, but in early childhood education as well, because we know that childcare providers, education providers and small businesses would actually rather put that saving—rather than dealing with regulatory red tape and the cost to them of that in doing business—back into the resources that will assist them to professionally develop their staff. We heard some great feedback on the government's initiatives in that regard.

I wanted to briefly touch on a couple of other matters but I know that, in the interests of time—I had a long speech which is now being severely truncated—I cannot. But I do recommend to the chamber that you read the government dissenting report to both the reports handed down today, and that, if you are interested in this area, you get the Productivity Commission's inquiry next week so that we can actually begin having a mature, holistic conversation as a nation about the next steps to ensuring that our early childhood education framework suits 21st century parents and children, and ensures that men and women can participate fully in the workforce and continue the productivity gains that are so necessary.

Question agreed to.