Did You Know ...
Since 2018, the Australian Childcare Alliance NSW introduced "Did You Know ..." weekly e-mail broadcasts to all NSW-based state and federal parliamentarians as well as members of the media.
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3 October 2018 Did you know … that only 72.5% of all NSW-based children are enrolled and attend 600 hours of preschool in the year before school, compared with 97.3% of VIC children, 88.6% of QLD children, 93.9% of WA children, 93.2% of SA children and 96.2% of TAS children of the same age. Why does NSW have the lowest participation rate in the country? Could it be because NSW invests $456 per enrolled child at long daycare centres' preschool programs compared to $3,695 in VIC, $2011 in QLD and $2,121 in SA? REFERENCES: |
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19 September 2018 Did you know … that with the introduction of the Federal Government’s new Child Care Subsidies beginning 2 July 2018, the only difference between the maximum hourly rates set by the Government for long daycare and family daycare is about $1? This is despite long daycare services bearing obviously and significantly more regulatory, operational and infrastructure costs than family daycare. Does this not force parents with children in long daycare to shoulder more costs? |
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12 September 2018 Did you know … that there are now childcare centres in NSW that care for between 200+ children aged 0-5 years old at a time? These centres can be larger than many primary and secondary schools. Is that what the NSW Government really want for babies and little children?. |
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30 August 2018 Did you know … that the Centre for Independent Studies' latest report confirms Australia's childcare system as a high-cost and inflexible service, with states and territories using their powers to intentionally exceed nationally agreed standards, and in need for a comprehensive rethink. |
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17 July 2018 Did you know … that the Productivity Commission formally reported that once the ratios were changed on 1 January 2016, childcare operating costs for 0-2 year olds would double. Yet there were no changes to Child Care Benefits or Child Care Rebates, or the new Child Care Subsidies to offset the increased costs. This forces up operating costs, making childcare MORE UNAFFORDABLE, and more pressure on cost-of-living? |
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26 June 2018 Did you know … that the Federal Department of Education’s records show 86% in 2013, 90% in 2014, 91% in 2015, 91% in 2016 and 93% in 2017 of ALL CHILDCARE CENTRES were reporting they had vacancies. Why then is there no effective planning system? |
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20 June 2018 Did you know … that for NSW Coalition Government's New Community Preschool Funding will not help 78.3% of all 3 year-old children? The NSW Treasurer (the Hon Dominic Perrottet MP) said “from 2019, in an Australian first, every three-year-old in New South Wales will now have access to subsidised early learning. That's part of an almost $200 million investment in our children, saving families on average $825 a year.” However, the vast majority (78,380 out of 100,079) of NSW-based 3 year-old children will to fail see any benefits from the latest NSW Government proposal. |
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14 June 2018 Did you know … that for childcare providers, the "National" Law is 165 pages long, the "National" Regulations is 177 pages, and the official government Guide to explain them was 414 pages in 2013 and 616 pages in 2018. And that’s after COAG’s Education Council reduced the number of standards from 58 to 40 and elements from 18 to 15 to streamline regulations! Is 958 pages of rules justified? Has childcare really become more complicated over the years? |
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6 June 2018 Did you know … that a NSW-based child attending a preschool program in a long daycare centre attracts $456/year of Federal+NSW government funding, whereas a VIC-based child doing the same attracts $3,695/year and a QLD-based child attracts $2,011/year of Federal+state government investment. Why is a NSW-based child not of similar value? |
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30 May 2018 Did you know … that the NSW Government is so far behind in their assessment and rating program of childcare services that 24.93% (1,344) of all NSW-based childcare services are rated as not “Meeting the National Quality Standard”, with 16.7% (861) were not assessed and rated for up to 6 years. Under the previous system, every childcare service was assessed and rated every 1, 2 or 3 years. Have we not moved backwards? [NOTE: Statistics quoted above were sourced from the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) as of 7 February 2018.]
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25 May 2018 Did you know … from the last available quarterly report from the Federal Government, vacancy places in long day care centres rose to 122,000 in March 2017, the equivalent of 400 empty centres or most of the 489 nett new centres opened in last two years. Vacancies increased by 11% on last year, 24% over two years and 33% over 3 years. And they are still building. Why? And why not a proper planning system? |
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16 May 2018 Did you know that some childcare fees for 0-5 year olds are more expensive than sending teenagers to elite private schools in Sydney! |
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20 February 2018 Did you know … that the Federal Government has introduced a new Grandparents Visa to provide a cheaper alternative to formal early childhood education and care. |
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14 February 2018 NSW families pay the nation's highest childcare fees because we have the most costly regulations in the country. While NSW families are facing ever-rising cost-of-living issues, its not fair that the cost of childcare should be so high for us. This is because the National Quality Framework is not national and NSW families are paying the price for it. What are YOU going to do to help NSW families? |
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7 February 2018 Did you know … that ever since the introduction on 1 January 2011 of lower educator:children ratios for 0-24 month old children and on 1 January 2016 for 2 year old children in childcare service, there has been a rise in complaints by parents who cannot find childcare for their young children, especially babies and two year olds. This is because the lowering of the ratios without offsetting the increased operational cost of providing childcare to those children rendered those childcare places less affordable to NSW families. |
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2 February 2018 Did you know … that there are NSW-specific regulations that require NSW childcare centres to hire up to 4 Early Childhood Teachers (see note 1 below) when all other states/territories (see note 2 below) just need 1-1.25 teacher up to 6 hours a day or 60% of opening hours? Such irregularity between states forces fees for NSW parents to be more onerous than in the other states/territories. |
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23 January 2018 Did you know … that in many areas particularly across Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and Coffs Harbour, there are now arguably too many childcare services and/or places to satisfy local demands. So much so that affected childcare centres’ occupancy levels are dropping, which is eventuating in centres being forced to increase childcare fees for the remaining attending families to cover regulatory and other fixed operational costs - especially rentals - to allow the centre to remain viable. This explains why being left to market forces does not put downward pressure on childcare fees in areas of oversupply. |
