Page 4972 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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I bring to the Minister's attention the long-day care licensing conditions that are in force with other kinds of day care centres, whether occasional care or holiday care. Sections of the licensing conditions relate to the child to staff ratio, staffing qualifications, management of the centre, health and safety measures, buildings and facilities, both indoor and outdoor, and the activities of the children.
Clause 38 states:
The licensee shall ensure the provision of a range of activities and experiences which are designed to foster the social, emotional, intellectual, cultural and physical skills of each child in each age group, and which are appropriate to each age group and each particular form of child care.
It goes on to describe some of the activities that a licensee will plan for a child, and they include educational. The licensing facility provides a service to the community, not just to the child-care centres, in ensuring that our children are given the best quality care possible. I do not mean to put down the child-care centres in any way, but the licensing facility acts as a monitor to ensure that those standards are maintained.
Considering that many children are in child-care centres from the time they are six weeks old until they are 12, from 8 o'clock in the morning until sometimes 6 o'clock in the evening, I feel that this function is very important. We have over 200 child-care facilities - - -
Mr Jensen: It is 232.
MS MAHER: Mr Jensen says that it is 232. It is wrong to cut the staffing in this area by half at a time when the Government is saying that it has a strong commitment to employer supported child-care and the creation of additional child-care places. We need to increase the licensing area rather than decrease it, considering that these facilities have to be licensed every year and that additional checks are done in the meantime. In addition, any complaints that are made to the section are checked out. This is a very important area for the quality of child-care in the ACT, and I hope that the Minister does not cut it.
MR JENSEN (10.37): I endorse totally Ms Maher's remarks. I also put on record my thanks to those officers of the Housing Trust who have recently been called upon to assist some people who have had problems, particularly in the family area. The Housing Trust has been most helpful in assisting those unfortunate women. I put on record my thanks and those of the people who have sought my assistance.
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