Page 309 - Week 01 - Thursday, 17 February 2011
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If those opposite were serious about making childcare choices easier, they will support the bill when it comes forward in March. Rather, we have a “Sunday times” policy, yet again, by Mrs Dunne. The one-liner proposed the establishment of a centralised waiting list for the allocation of childcare places. Let us be clear: the ACT government does not support a system which removes from families the choice about where they send their children. But it is not only us who reject a centralised waiting list. So does the sector. Not one person within the sector that I have spoken to—
Mrs Dunne: The Chief Minister does.
MS BURCH: No, I believe you have got that wrong. You have got that wrong, Mrs Dunne. You can laugh all the way down the corridor. No-one that I have spoken to thinks this is a good idea.
Mr Seselja: Don’t you speak to the Chief Minister?
MS BURCH: You should check. You should check the media release.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Mrs Dunne! Ms Burch!
MS BURCH: We are quite clear on this one.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Ms Burch, would you please resume your seat. Stop the clock. There is too much row going on. For those members opposite who are having a bit of fun across the chamber, you have your turn coming up if you wish to take it. I ask that you hear Ms Burch in silence.
MS BURCH: Thank you. So there is a challenge. I challenge and urge Mrs Dunne to table today her centralised waiting list policy. I hope it is a little bit more than the one-liner she put out through the Canberra Times. I challenge and urge Mrs Dunne to table the policy that outlines the detail of how it would work—how the childcare places would be allocated and how it will reduce waiting lists for families. And, of course, she must table the costings that they have done. I also ask her to table the consultative processes—the consultation and the letters of support that she has that underpin the dollars and the cents of her one-line policy. I suspect that she will not be able to do that, but I ask her to do it.
Parents in the ACT want to be confident that their children are in reliable hands. Here in the ACT we have an excellent childcare system and we are working with the sector to further strengthen it. Families want affordability in childcare. As I have indicated, with the increase in the rebate, ACT families are paying less than they were two years ago.
We know that families choose centres for a variety of reasons. The centre of choice could be close to home, near the child’s sibling’s primary school or on the way to work. The ACT government has been proactive in helping families to access childcare and to inform them to help them make the right decisions about childcare.
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