Page 1088 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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Of staff in long day care centres who have formal qualifications, 81 per cent held a childcare certificate, diploma or bachelor of childcare, compared with 77 per cent in 2002 and 71 per cent in 1999. Sixteen per cent held teaching qualifications; four per cent held nursing qualifications and 10 per cent had other relevant qualifications. Some staff held more than one qualification.
There are many other statistics. I would point interested members to this report to look at those things in more detail. The Australian Capital Territory has the highest average weekly fees for private long day care and family day care, while community long day care average fees were highest in New South Wales. The lowest average fees for private and community long day care were in the Northern Territory, while Queensland had the lowest average fees for family day care.
Variations in fees, as I have already said, may be as a result of various things—and, again, I know that this is a really big area. I am sure Minister Gallagher, who has a new baby, is very cognisant of the concerns of mothers who are seeking to put children into affordable, quality day care. We also need to be reminding the government that, of course, just releasing blocks of land does not necessarily mean we are going to go, “Hey presto, there are another 50 or 100 places.” So I think it is quite important that not only this recent block of land be released, but that the government certainly gives great attention to expediting that and fast-tracking other blocks of land.
I have a word of caution for those who seek to infer that the federal government is not making attempts to address some of the problems in the childcare sector. The Howard government has provided unprecedented support to parents for childcare. More families than ever before now get help with their childcare costs. The Howard government’s record speaks for itself. Spending has almost doubled, compared to the previous Labor government’s efforts. Almost $9.5 billion is projected to be spent over four years to 2008-09. Places have doubled—from approximately 300,000 in 1996 to present figures of approximately 600,000. In fact, the Howard government announced more OSHC places—over 84,000—in the last budget than Labor had in total during its entire term of 13 years, when it allocated 72,000 places. Labor’s term ended with a mere 8,000 places in its final year in office.
Nearly 790,000 children are now accessing childcare. This is a 23 per cent increase since the introduction of the childcare benefit in the year 2000. On average, families are now receiving over $2,000 per year in childcare benefits under the Howard government. As a complement, the Howard government introduced a 30 per cent childcare tax rebate, meaning that parents may be eligible for up to $4,000 per child per year for out-of-pocket childcare expenses.
For the ACT to garner further support to meet projected growth and demand in the childcare sector, a commitment will be needed to work across all levels of government to build a more flexible system that ensures that Canberra’s childcare sector is meeting the diverse needs of families whilst at the same time remaining of a consistently high quality. I commend Dr Foskey for bringing this motion forward today and I appreciate the opportunity to add to the debate. Mr Corbell’s statement this week was a nice try, but he is going to have to do better than that. My colleague Mrs Dunne will certainly be adding to the debate regarding the Teddy Bears Child Care Centre at Curtin.
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