Page 5786 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
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Mr Coe: On a point of order.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Resume your seat. Stop the clock, please.
Mr Coe: I see absolutely no relevance whatsoever in what Ms Burch is saying here, especially when she is quoting Mrs Dunne on an issue which is unrelated to this.
MS BURCH: On relevance—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Ms Burch, remain relevant, please, to the motion. Thank you.
MS BURCH: The motion refers to the Productivity Commission and also made comment on female participation in the workforce. So on that:
Often women have somewhat of a luxury about whether they are in the workforce or not—a luxury that does not accrue in the same way to men.
… And it is often the case, especially in a town like Canberra where perhaps people are not quite so dependent upon a second income, that women, especially in their middle years and later years, are more inclined to move in and out of the workforce as it suits them because they are not the principal breadwinner.
Labor believe that we are right in making sure that women here in Canberra have access to childcare. We believe that many women have a genuine need for work and we do not consider that work is a luxury for women. In stark contrast—
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe, do you want to be warned before lunch?
MS BURCH: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I can understand their angst because I would be shamefaced to have made those comments about women in Canberra as well. I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit subparagraph (1)(b) and paragraph (2), substitute:
“(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) respond to the Productivity Commission’s report by July 2012 as it applies to the ACT, including details of the research and modelling undertaken to develop that response; and
(b) table, by the first sitting of the Assembly in 2012, a paper outlining its strategy to assist the childcare sector in the ACT to implement the national quality agenda.”.
The amendment I have circulated acknowledges that the early childhood development workforce report has many findings and recommendations. And I look forward to providing the government’s response to the Productivity Commission’s report in due course.
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