Page 5713 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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MS BURCH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. There is an underlying bit of information that also needs to be taken into account. The out-of-pocket costs for Canberra families for childcare are 28 per cent lower now than they were in 2007. Canberra families are supported with record investment by the federal government in direct payments and record investment from this government in supporting the workforce, bringing more places online and building more childcare centres.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, what assessment have you made of workforce training programs available in the ACT, including the resources available to deliver those programs, and how does this compare with training programs offered in other jurisdictions?
MS BURCH: I thank Mr Hanson for his question. I have worked quite closely with the sector around workforce development. Indeed, conversations at one of the roundtables I convened with the sector delivered nearly $800,000 in workforce development for scholarships for cert III in the workforce. That will come on line in January of next year.
We also work very closely with the professional sector development coordinator and the inclusion coordinator around what are the RTOs, what is the suite of opportunities for people to be trained here. I work very closely with the sector and certainly what I hear is that CIT do a well regarded job but so do other organisations such as Newskills. That is used quite extensively by the workforce here in the ACT.
MR HANSON: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, when will you admit that changes to government policy do impact on the cost of childcare and therefore on the fees charged to Canberra families by childcare centres?
MS BURCH: I do not think I have ever denied that quality comes with cost. I do not think I have ever denied that the families I talk to welcome the regulation and the quality reforms that are coming through this. What I have also said is that the Productivity Commission and the work that we have looked at previously, which is Access Economics, differ. I have pointed out that they differ because they are looking at federal figures and not at the investment jurisdiction by jurisdiction. I have also pointed out that one of the largest providers in this country is saying that perhaps there could be an increase of $1 or $3 a day.
I have also pointed out, and I have said it a number of times here, that in a review of the average cost of centres that we have undertaken here in the ACT those centres that meet the new requirements are on par and sometimes cheaper than those services that
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