Page 1455 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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our site. There is existing parking on the entrance to the battleaxe block; there is existing parking in that first quarter of the battleaxe block. We were simply seeking to utilise what is already there. If the board of Communities@Work feel that that is not the right decision, that is a decision for them to make, and we will simply put the parking on the Holder site.
As I have said, the government has acted very strongly to support the community organisations, the community providers, plus the private providers in this town to make sure Canberra families have the choice that they so rightly deserve. We will not be supporting this motion. It will simply delay the release of land for children’s services. It will simply delay an increase in the provision of services for Canberra families, which goes absolutely against everything that I have been working for over the last number of years on behalf of Canberra families.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (4.42): The Greens will not be supporting this motion today. It does raise a number of issues about childcare and government assets more generally, and I will go through these. The first point to make, however, is that I was surprised when I read Mrs Dunne’s motion. It very much seems to be about holding up the delivery of childcare places. That, of course, did cause me to be quite alarmed. As I understand it, the development application is with ACTPLA. The public consultation period has now closed. We can expect a decision from ACTPLA next Thursday, 5 April. That decision is only a week away.
The motion seems to be suggesting that the government should now scrap that work and think about doing it differently. I understand that Mrs Dunne has a concern about the cost. But I must say that I did think she also had that concern about providing more childcare places and that she recognised there is currently a shortage. It is difficult for parents to find places, particularly for the babies and younger infants. Why she would want to delay the 125 new places and think that would be a good outcome, I could not quite understand.
The Greens will not support the motion, for a number of reasons. Firstly, as I said, the process is now well underway and we believe that we should be trying to ensure that childcare places are delivered in a timely way. Secondly, the Greens believe that childcare centres should be run by not-for-profit community organisations. We think that having the government own the facility and the community organisation running it is a good model that delivers good outcomes for the children who attend such facilities.
On the issue of costs, I do understand that Mrs Dunne believes that private operators can build the centre for less, and this may well be the case. It may not be the case also, depending on the nature, type and quality of the particular centre. Ms Burch has gone through a few of those issues.
Mrs Dunne has used the example of the Harrison Early Childhood Centre. It is run by Northside Community Services. Mr Rattenbury and I visited this centre last year and we congratulated Mr Simon Rosenberg, who is the CEO of Northside Community Services, on the building and also on the quality of childcare that the staff out there were providing.
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