On Tuesday, 20 December 2016, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW President Lyn Connolly and CEO Chiang Lim met with the new NSW Deputy Premier, NSW Minister for Small Business and NSW Member for Monaro, the Hon John Barilaro MP (National Party).
The issues discussed were:
- the Assessment and Rating system implemented by the NSW Department of Education;
- the underlying business cost factors that escalate the cost of childcare;
- the differences of business costs in Sydney and NSW compared to other Australian states;
- the issue of children-to-educator ratios that contribute toward the cost of childcare;
- private owner/operators who are small businesses in their own right as opposed to corporate/large-scale childcare;
- the role of the NSW Small Business Commission for dispute resolutions;
- the escalation paths for disputes with the Government via internal departmental review that can be followed by an application to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT); and
- the labour shortage and the consequential use of 457 visas that favour metropolitan Sydney then Canberra instead of regional NSW.
Deputy Premier Barilaro assured ACA NSW that he would consider our members’ concerns and perspective, and asked to continue to be kept informed of any further information we may be able to provide that can positively advance early childhood education and care for the benefit of all children and their parents.