Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was recently contacted by the Arndu St Paul’s Preschool in Oatley. This preschool is located in the electorate of Barton, but many of the children attending Arndu live in my electorate of Banks. I know the member for Barton shares my concerns over the funding crisis facing this and other preschools. Parents are facing an uphill battle finding appropriate child care—and paying for it, if and when they do find it. Two years ago I conducted a survey through my newsletter to establish the child care needs in my electorate. The survey results established that there was a significant shortfall in the number of places available. Eighty-seven per cent of people responding to my survey had difficulty in finding affordable, accessible child care. Sixty per cent responded that there were insufficient child-care hours available in the area.

The survey also found that there were many families who could not afford child care. This is the specific issue raised by the preschool in Oatley. The information provided in the letter to me states that Arndu receives significantly less funding than other preschools in Australia. Families sending their children there are not eligible to receive the government’s much trumpeted child-care benefit. Families will also be ineligible for the 30 per cent rebate. The preschool has circulated a petition asking that this matter be rectified. I hope that these pleas do not fall on the deaf ears of an arrogant and out of touch government.

Since I circulated petitions in late 2003 and highlighted the need for more child care in the Penshurst area of the electorate, little has changed. This government does not seem to want to face the reality that families want and need child care. I found it disappointing that the member for Lindsay recently suggested that child-care fees should be placed in the same category as company cars—that is, they should become part of a salary package arrangement. This suggestion just shows how out of touch government members are. Many women do not even have a full-time job, let alone one which has packaging arrangements. How many workers believe they could negotiate child-care arrangements as part of an AWA?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released a survey on 6 February this year called Barriers and incentives to labour force participation. This is a valuable survey because it measures the numbers of women who do not want to work at all, or who wish to work more hours. This survey established that there were more than 250,000 women who wanted to work or to increase their hours but were unable to do so because of child-care or family concerns. Costs of child care have risen steadily: 50 per cent since 2000. The 30 per cent rebate was an admission from the government that there are significant concerns about child-care costs. Unfortunately, as with most of this government’s so-called reforms, the devil is in the detail. The following groups miss out altogether: parents on a minimum child-care benefit who have a child in full-time care and fees over $65 per day—these people hit the $4,000 cap; single parents starting up a business or on low incomes, who miss out on every dollar that exceeds their tax liability in a given year; parents who have not kept receipts; parents who work less than 15 hours per week; and parents using preschools.

Good quality, affordable child care is a prerequisite for those parents who want to work. This government has gone some way to addressing cost issues by subsidising parents, but as we know there are many parents who miss out on the child-care subsidy, including parents from Oatley. There are many steps this government could take to ensure that child care is more affordable. Yet it has essentially ignored the issue, particularly for those families who are on low incomes.

Labor has a genuine commitment to addressing quality, cost and availability issues. The first steps must be in consultation and partnership with the child-care industry. We need to collect relevant data on shortages so planning can occur. The government, as far as we know, collects no such data. There must be investment in child-care centres, particularly in areas of chronic shortages. Finally, we should increase the child-care benefit. This government has had 10 long years to invigorate the child-care sector and to provide funding for Australian parents seeking to work. It is indeed an indictment that the government has not chosen to do so, and it is typical of its arrogant and out-of-touch approach.