Page 2505 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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And:
… childcare operators warned that paying the rebate directly to parents rather than centres would have an inflationary effect, and this is exactly what has happened.
And:
It is at a tipping point where people say it is not worth going back to work. While the value of high-quality early learning has got enormous potential for long-term productivity, the cost is making it unsustainable for some who need it most.
And:
The quality of the system must be maintained to give all children a fighting chance of doing well at school, but the cost must be monitored to ensure parents earning low … incomes do not decide to give up work because childcare is too expensive.
So Ms Berry’s ham-fisted attempt to categorise my statements last week as pitting some upper class of the rich and powerful against some sort of victims here is clearly, I repeat, fallacious.
If one attempts to hoist someone on their own petard—sorry, perhaps that is too complex a saying for some of those opposite. If one attempts to damn someone with their own words, it might help if you actually use their own words, not make them up to suit yourself as you go along.
To end Ms Berry’s confusion, I reiterate that if you cannot afford something, there is no point talking about the quality of it. It might be the most fabulous, best-quality child care in the world, but if it is unaffordable no-one can use it except the wealthy. That was the whole point of my analogy, which obviously was lost on those opposite. In future, I will try to keep it a bit simpler for their benefit.
For example, there are also those who are unable to tell the difference between “salacious” and “fallacious”, perhaps also “audacious”, “capacious”, “crustaceous”, “flirtatious” or “rapacious”, or a whole heap of other “acious” words. I understand that for some in the chamber opposite, technology is not their area of expertise, so they possibly will not use an online dictionary—it might be too difficult for them. So I did bring down an old-fashioned printed one here. I am happy to share that, if anyone needs it in addition to the one at the front of the room.
But unfortunately it does not help with pronunciation, such as Ms Burch taking the best part of the year to get my name correct, despite my taking every opportunity to tell her in person or by email on the occasions where she said it incorrectly. But I digress.
Last night—
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