Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

So how about ringing around your centres and asking what the situation is? A quick survey of 23 centres in my electorate shows that 14 of them have extensive lists. One of them says it has a waiting list for all of its rooms. It has around 50 families waiting for the babies room, 50 families for the toddlers room and 10 to 12 families for the three-year-olds room. Another centre at the other end of the electorate has a waiting list for all ages. It has 66 families waiting for babies, 22 for toddlers and about 50 families for three-year-olds. So go and ask what is going on in your electorate. What is happening out there? It is the federal government that allocate the places. Maybe we should ask about how they do that.

And these are not necessarily all full-time places. What can a woman do when she wants to return to full-time work and can only get a place on a Wednesday or Thursday? What can she do if she is in my electorate and is one of the individuals who does not have a family member available because she is a first-generation migrant and cannot get a visa for her parents to visit? Not everybody has the family networks available. That just does not exist. It is a fantasy to live in that world. Not everybody has, as I do, a husband who can work part time so that my child is not in full-time care. Not everybody has the luxury of being able to afford to pay, as I do, $55 a day for child care.

Not everybody wants to send their children to large centres. This is the other thing that is becoming a problem. Large centres are the only ones that now seem to be profitable. Most of the people in my electorate say: ‘I went in and had a look and just could not leave my child there. I want to go to a smaller, community based centre.’ That is what they are asking for. There is nothing that does anything to assist those smaller, community based centres. And the actions of this government over time have reduced their ability to operate. You only need to look at your friends who are currently on the ABC board to see where the issue of child care is going and where people want it to be.

This is a diabolical situation. The government will not collect stats. The Victorian government has a great pilot program. I really think people should look at what is going on at Darebin and Port Phillip councils. Things can be done and this government is not doing any of them. (Time expired)

See this speech in context