Page 4846 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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staff that work within them will be recognised as positive and vital key contributors to the health, development and wellbeing of ACT children.
Provisions have been made in the national regulations that recognise the workforce issues currently facing the sector. The regulations allow for educators to be working towards a qualification which includes making satisfactory progress in their studies. It is recognised that upskilling the sector takes time and effort and is not a process that can be rushed. To further support the sector, there are also provisions in the national regulations that allow for services to apply for short-term waivers to maintain compliance while recruiting appropriately qualified educators.
These provisions will function in a similar way to the temporary standard exemptions that are currently provided for within the Children and Young People Act 2008. These provisions are currently utilised in minimal circumstances and have been appropriately supported in the sector to date.
The ACT government is contributing to national work being undertaken in relation to workforce issues in education and care services through the participation in the national early childhood reform agenda and increasing delivery of children’s services courses, assisted by the Australian government’s removal of regulated course fees. The ACT sector has been engaging in the conversation about workforce for some time now. It is seen as an issue which will require ongoing and sustained work.
Some of the key activities the sector would like to progress include the development of a combined government and sector marketing campaign—a campaign seeking to promote the education and care sector as a valuable profession. The sector have also recognised this reform as an opportunity to work better together, to share ideas and learn from each other and to provide opportunities for their educators to gain work experiences in a planned and supported way. It is encouraging to see the commitment, innovation and professionalism that we have here in the ACT education and care sector.
In the time I have left, I also seek to clarify that the Education and Care Services National Law (ACT) Bill 2011 excludes a number of ACT laws so far as they apply to the education and care services national law or to the instruments made under that law. Specifically, the bill excludes the application of the Criminal Code 2002. The Criminal Code 2002 codifies the general principles of criminal responsibility that apply under territory law. As such, the Criminal Code 2002 has an effect on the way a court in the ACT is required to interpret legislation, including the offence provisions in the national law. This means that the offence provisions in the national law could take on a different meaning when interpreted in the ACT, as compared to other jurisdictions that do not have a codified approach to criminal law.
Currently, the only jurisdictions that have a codified approach for the application of the criminal law are the ACT, the commonwealth and the Northern Territory. The bill proposes that the Criminal Code 2002 be excluded in its application to the national law so that the approach to the interpretation of the offence provisions in the ACT will be consistent with the other jurisdictions that are implementing the national law. The underlying rationale for this exclusion is to achieve and maintain national consistency
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