Page 221 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
for Canberra families. I agree with Mrs Dunne that the accommodation problems for Gumnut Place centre are concerning and that the ACT government should be working to assist Gumnut Place to find alternative accommodation and to reassure families and staff about the future of accommodation and therefore the viability of the centre.
I will, however, be supporting the amendments put forward by Minister Burch to this motion, because I believe that the amendments focus the motion to achieve the important outcomes of explaining the higher costs of childcare in the ACT and securing future accommodation for Gumnut Place. If Mrs Dunne actually looks at the amendments put forward, she will see that they achieve that important outcome of the explanation of the costs and the importance of finding a secure home for Gumnut Place.
The ACT government cannot tackle the issue of childcare costs alone. They need to be lobbying their federal counterparts. Mrs Dunne raised the issue of the staff-child ratio that will be brought in and the implication for costs. It does go to the quality. When I have been out in my electorate, I have had people come up to me and say, “Please ensure that goes through, because there is nothing more important than ensuring the quality of childcare for our children.” Of course, that is going to have a cost implication, and we need to be looking at that. We need to be looking to the federal government to provide further assistance not just to the ACT but to all states and territories.
I also need to pick up on the issue of portable long service leave. It goes again to the heart of what workforce we want in our childcare centres. We need to be properly supporting that workforce. We need to be properly paying them. It is just not good enough to be saying that they should be on some sort of poverty wage looking after children. If we want to have a good-quality system, we need to ensure that we look after that workforce.
I know that the ACT government have said that they would work towards solutions for Gumnut. In her amendment (2)(e), the minister ensures that “assistance is provided to … find a suitable facility for childcare centres in need of alternative accommodation”. The amendments also clearly talk about explaining to Gumnut Place why this situation has arisen and providing clarity to Gumnut Place about the government’s support of the centre in finding alternative accommodation.
I would say that we have a former school site in the Belconnen area at the moment. Many of our former school sites are now vibrant hubs across the ACT, providing much-needed accommodation to community organisations, whether they be arts organisations, wellbeing organisations or organisations providing services to the vulnerable and needy in the city. They also can be places that could have a community-based childcare centre as well. In the Ginninderra electorate, in the Belconnen area, we have the former Flynn primary school. I would suggest to the minister that that may be a very good place to be looking—to see whether Gumnut could be accommodated somewhere like the former Flynn primary school.
I will be monitoring this case and others like it, and I will continue to monitor the skill shortages and high costs of childcare in Canberra.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video