Page 4857 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Community Services, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Women and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) (11.38), by leave: I move amendments Nos 3 to 6 circulated in my name together [see schedule 2 at page 4943]. I have made comments earlier.
Amendments agreed to.
Clause 21, as amended, agreed to.
Proposed new clause 21A.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.38): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name which inserts a new clause 21A [see schedule 3 at page 4944].
I do not do this lightly—and it is a departure from the national scheme—but I do so in response to the real need in the ACT community, especially for small independent childcare providers. This amendment would enable small childcare providers to seek an exemption for the first year of the operation of the act. One of the issues that I touched on in my remarks—and I raised this earlier last year with the minister—is that there are childcare centres that go through the motions of saying, “Yes, we understand this is happening; yes, it’s going to have implications,” but when you really drill down into it, they are not ready.
Some of the childcare centres that have actually done thinking on this and looked very closely at their circumstances know that on 1 January they will be faced with a very hard decision to either downsize their baby room or upsize their baby room. Sometimes they do not have the physical space to upsize their baby room. They cannot continue to provide services to an odd number of children. Most baby rooms currently have 10 children in them and that requires two full-time carers. If they maintain 10, they cannot have 2½ full-time carers. They have to go to three, but then they may not have the space for the extra two babies to keep the ratios because they do not have enough floor space, enough cot room space or enough playground space. There are rules and regulations about how much space you have when you provide childcare services.
The only option these services have is to go to eight places and maintain the two carers. That means, of course, that they are losing the income from two. They have to turn away two children and lose the income from those two children. That places big cost pressures on the whole of the childcare centre, not just the babies room. This amendment would allow childcare providers to seek an exemption from the one to four ratio for the first year if the need arises. It is not compulsory. It is not saying that everyone will be exempt, but they do have the opportunity to seek this exemption.
One of the more on-the-ball childcare centres, which have spent a lot of time thinking about the implications that this will have for them next year and which have been very active in advocating for the small parent-run childcare centres, have raised this issue with me and have written to me. On behalf of all of the childcare centres like theirs, they are very keen to see this amendment passed. In writing to me they say that
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