The Government Senators recommended passing the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) 2016 Bill, but gave a detailed summary of the issues raised in the Australian Childcare Alliance’s submissions.
Labor Senators were concerned that too many families and children will be left worse off, and called on the Government to put forward amendments to their proposed childcare changes in order to improve the balance between children’s early education and parent’s workforce participation. They also opposed outright any further cuts to Family Payments.
The Green Senators called for subsidies to be sufficient to allow a minimum of two full days care, for an adequately flexible reporting grace period be adopted for casual workers, part-time workers with irregular hours and people when they lose their jobs to estimate their expected activity and childcare needs, the current Budget Based Funding levels to be guaranteed, and ensuring providers of In Home Care be eligible for Child Care Subsidy payments.
The Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) Senators said they were concerned about changes to the activity test, and cited evidence that children should have access to at least 24 hours of ECEC. NXT expressed a concern that 15 hours a week does not amount to two full days of care, was ill-fitting with the business practices of many providers, and recommended that the Federal Department of Education consults with stakeholders regarding the suitability of the 15 hours proposal’s impact on ECEC providers’ business viabilities as well as model the impact 15 hours of subsidised ECEC would have on childcare workers' workforce participation. They also called for clarity of whether funding for in-home care will continue to be made available under the Jobs for Families package and ensuring that all appropriate stakeholder groups are comprehensively consulted when reform packages are being developed. NXT also stated that: “Affordable early childhood education and care (ECEC) should not be contingent upon the Government passing Family Tax Benefit savings measures.”
Although Federal Minister for Education Senator Simon Birmingham published an opinion-editorial article on family day care compliance policy in “The Australian”, http://www.senatorbirmingham.com.au/Latest-News/ID/3242/Cracking-down-on-crooked-child-carers, the last three paragraphs are of particular interest: “All these [Jobs for Families] changes will go some way to addressing the risks. But we recognise more needs to be done to fix the weaknesses in the system. That’s why we have introduced legislation to the Federal Parliament to comprehensively reform the child care system.
“Our Jobs for Families package not only better targets child care assistance to families working the hardest but earning the least, it also includes provisions to allow the Turnbull Government to place a pause on new Family Day Care applications where there is an oversupply and non-compliance. This legislation is imperative to ensuring we have the powers we need to block providers from fraudulently claiming funding in the future. The new IT system linked to Jobs for Families will also ensure that fraud and non-compliance is easier to detect.
“Access to affordable, high-quality child care is crucial to early learning and education, encouraging parents back into the workforce and a fundamental driver of our economy. Stopping unscrupulous operators from manipulating the system is a critical priority. The sooner we can implement our plan the better.”
This approach can be contrasted with the column by Judith Sloan in “The Australian” last Saturday, where she argued that increased investment in ECEC should be canned and the priority should be on cutting rorts first.
The Federal Parliament definitely is no longer expected to get to the Jobs for Families Bill given the other competing issues – industrial relations, tax cuts and marriage equality plebiscite). We have a long way to go yet.