Page 2420 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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of having early quality childhood education was estimated by KPMG Econotech to be between 1.2 and 2.9 per cent. Yet despite the clear evidence, there has been no firm commitment regarding future funding from the Australian government.
Mr Doszpot seems to think that an undisclosed sum held in a contingency in the recent budget shows that commitment. There is no commitment. The national partnership ends in December of this year. Time is running out. Let us be very clear that time is running out. This NP expires on 31 December. At the recent school census there were 4,583 preschoolers in the ACT. That must be close to 4,500 families in Canberra that have no certainty of the universal access continuing from 12 to 15 hours beyond December of this year.
The delays in negotiations for that continuation are causing great uncertainty amongst parents and educators as to the future provisions for preschool programs next year. As it stands, without immediate action from the Australian government in this space we will see a reduction in services and quality in preschool and early education across Australia. Without continued Australian government funding, the ACT and other states have indicated that they cannot sustain 15 hours of service delivery. Without commitment from the federal coalition government, very soon there will be cuts to preschool education communities across the country.
I am also concerned about the immediate impact a cut in hours will have on families in the ACT. Such a dramatic cut to preschool hours will see families needing to find alternatives. Much has been said this morning by Mr Doszpot about supporting women’s participation in the workforce. Yet at the same time he has not made a clear statement whether the Canberra Liberals will support my call on the federal government to maintain and to continue universal access to 15 hours a week in preschool.
Given the delays by the commonwealth and the late hour of these discussions, a failure to renew this agreement may see parents scrambling at the last minute to find childcare hours to replace those hours lost in preschool. At a time when the Abbott government is seeking to reduce the cost to parents of child care and increase workforce participation, particularly for women, it simply makes no sense that we would find ourselves in this situation. It is interesting to note that these concerns are not just mine or this chamber’s. They are shared by education and early childhood ministers across the country. To my knowledge all education ministers are as one to ensure that this funding continues.
I quote my Western Australian counterpart Peter Collier. He said in the West Australian newspaper just last month:
If the Federal government is serious about improving the education quality of students throughout the nation, they need to ensure that they honour the national agreement with regards to universal access.
The New South Wales Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli told News.com.au in April:
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