The NSW State Election will be held on Saturday, 23 March 2019. To assist early childhood education and care service providers and parents with their voting intentions, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW has assembled a series of One-on-One video interviews with representatives from the key political parties on their proposals and views for the future.
Thanks also go to the Centre for Independent Studies (Eugenie Joseph) and Women's Agenda (Georgie Dent) for their four questions are listed at the bottom of this article.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed are those of the speaker(s).
Apolitically, ACA NSW invited NSW Liberals/Nationals, NSW Labor, NSW Greens, Christian Democrats, One Nation, Liberal-Democrats and Australian Conservatives to participate.
ACA NSW provides their responses so that viewers can make their own conclusions.
One-on-One with the NSW Minister for Early Childhood Education, the Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC (NSW Liberals/Nationals)
One-on-One with NSW Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Kate Washington MP (NSW Labor)
Invited. Video answers not provided.
One-on-One with the Hon Justin Field MLC (NSW Greens)
Invited. Video answers not provided.
One-on-One with the Hon Paul Green MLC (Christian Democrats)
Invited. Video answers not provided.
One-on-One with Mark Latham (One Nation)
One-on-One with Ben Irawan (Australian Conservatives)
One-on-One with David Leyonhjelm (Liberal-Democrats)
QUESTIONS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN CHILDCARE ALLIANCE NSW
1. Since 2012, all Australian states/territories have implemented the then new National Quality Standards and the National Quality Framework for all early childhood education and care service providers. While we are all proud of the world class high quality of early childhood education and care that is provided to over 1 million children, 440,000 in NSW alone, there is a view that although we do not want to sacrifice quality, the cost of service delivery has become quite challenging for providers and ultimately for parents. Going forward, how do you see the NSW Government improving on the cost-of-living pressures for young parents with children aged 0-5 years old, while maintaining the quality of early childhood education and care our children enjoy today?
2. NSW’s 4-year-old children in long daycare seem to not be as well funded by governments as compared to those in other Australian states. And with the current call nationally for 3-year-old children to be funded to achieve a minimum of 600 hours per year like 4-year-old children, do you think this is something the next NSW Government and NSW Parliament ought to look into? And how do you think the NSW Government and NSW Parliament can improve NSW’s participation rate for the year before school from currently being the lowest in the country?
3. Given that NSW childcare services do not attract GST or land taxes because they are recognised as educational facilities, why do some NSW childcare services pay NSW payroll taxes while some other NSW childcare services are exempt from paying NSW payroll taxes? And what do you think the next NSW Government and NSW Parliament should do about payroll taxes in relation to childcare service providers, and how could they help with childcare affordability? Could this money be redirected to support the additional staffing requirements (like degree qualified early childhood teachers) for service providers in NSW?
QUESTIONS FROM THE CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT STUDIES
1. What should be done about the growing regulatory burden on childcare services, especially the disproportionate impact on small services (as reported by ACECQA)?
2. We know parents have different priorities when it comes to childcare. Some are happy to pay a premium for a service that offers more individualised care and greater focus on early learning. But other parents simply want safe, affordable care that allows them to work. How can we ensure parents have choice?
QUESTIONS FROM WOMEN’S AGENDA
1. Is the provision of universal high quality childcare an option you would ever consider? Please give reasons.
2. How can we reconcile two competing financial pressures associated with childcare: On the one hand the cost parents pay for care has increased significantly in recent years but that has not resulted in a corresponding increase in the wages educators and carers receive?