Page 3135 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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that, I understand the need for high quality childcare and early education and that in the future we will see a minimum standard of a level III certificate in childcare. The Greens are committed to this.
While childcare services in government-owned buildings will have access to funds to make physical changes to the building to meet changed staff-to-children ratios, for instance, there are not-for-profit community organisations who own their own building and who only have access to $10,000. I am concerned that some of these will be forced to close because they just will not be viable into the future.
There was a recommendation that we put into the estimates report around this, asking the minister to have a look at whether she could facilitate providing some support for these. I would not expect that there would be too many organisations in this particular category across the ACT. I note that the government’s response to that really was a rejection of that idea. I would urge the minister to look at this. The Greens will continue to push the government to play a greater role in assisting these centres. The reality is that we cannot afford to lose any childcare places. We know that demand is growing, and I do not think it is reasonable to say we are going to put out more land and we are also going to build our own centre and at the same time other centres are having to close. At the end of the day, the net effect is that we will not have as many childcare centres as if we had provided that support and truly, genuinely listened to the needs of some of these centres.
The family violence prevention program is certainly a welcome initiative. I am particularly interested in the preventive focus that sees behaviour modification strategies directed at offenders of domestic violence. I am concerned, however, that the funding it has attracted, only $100,000 a year, will not be enough to establish a responsive service. I acknowledge that the wraparound service has received good feedback from service providers and this is positive.
We are all no doubt united in the belief that successful prevention strategies are of prime importance. Advocates and workers in domestic violence are clear that there can always be more done regarding prevention, and that is why I am questioning the $100,000, which is essentially one staff member, and wondering how much difference that will make.
Finally, I move to an issue that concerns women. This is actually a health issue—it sits in the Health Directorate—but it is also a women’s issue. It is around choices in childbirth. It was one that I believe my colleague Ms Bresnan raised earlier. Much has been said about women making decisions regarding choices during pregnancy and childbirth. I am concerned about the lack of access for ACT women to the federal health reform that enables them to access Medicare funded midwives. This, as I said, falls under health but a woman’s ability to make decisions about her health care is enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and it is a fundamental feature of women’s autonomy.
Health have cited a convoluted clinical privileges policy as the reason women are not able to access a Medicare eligible midwife for care during labour and birth in our public hospitals. I understand that this requires some policy work, but what does not
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