Immediate solutions can be available for NSW’s ECEC services

The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW has made its submission to the NSW Government for its annual budget – “A State of Possibilities – Volume 1: Immediate Solutions”.

This latest submission may be particularly revealing as it is quite different to the recently released Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement of the Review of the National Quality Framework (NQF).

In ACA NSW’s Volume 1 submission, it focuses on the following (legacy) issues and offers practical solutions for NSW-based long daycare services:

• be nationally consistent with all other Australian states by removing the requirement for a 3^rd and 4^th degree-qualified early childhood teachers (see Regulation 272);
• be nationally consistent with all other Australian states by having 1:11 ratio for children aged 3-6 years old (see Regulation 271);
• make persons taken to be early childhood teachers to automatically be like all other Australian states (ie amend Regulation 242(3));
• make all NSW-based services to be NSW Payroll Tax exempt by virtue that they are educational institutions;
• restore NSW Start Strong funding for all eligible children in long daycare services to be at least the national average per child allocated for Universal Access funding; and
• allow NSW to trial Queensland’s long-standing “crib break” (see Regulation 299C).

Other recommendations for the NSW Government include:

• emulating the Victorian Government’s model of helping to pay the gap for eligible parents’/guardians’ cildren during their year-before-school; and
• establishing an appropriate income test eligibility framework for parents receiving the free preschool funding for 2021.

Should you need further information/clarification, please contact ACA NSW on 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

PUBLISHED: 17 MARCH 2021