As one would expect, due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW (and its ACA National Committee) are already providing current operational and government-sanctioned health information to members as well as non-members.
ACA NSW is also on-track to host a series of live webinars with well over 1,000 registered approved providers. And we are providing tools and information to both members and non-members wherever possible.
Nationally, our sister-state peak bodies and we are collectively in discussions with the Federal Government seeking practical solutions to address business continuity. We anxiously await the Federal Government’s announcement(s) in the very near future.
Similarly, we have reached out to the NSW Department of Education to seek solutions to concerns that are within the NSW Government’s domain, for example:
- What are the differentiating circumstances underlying a biosecurity event versus a quarantine event versus a quarantine event for which the NSW Government would declare to direct a (temporary) closure of any NSW-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) service?
- Should any staff member(s) of ECEC services be self-isolated or be unavailable due to confirmation of COVID-19 infection, given the underlying labour shortages and higher staffing requirements of NSW compared to other Australian jurisdictions, what temporary flexibilities can the NSW Department of Education extend to such affected service(s) for their regulatory compliance and qualifications requirements while managing risk and not sacrificing quality?
- Will the NSW Government make available fee subsidies to community preschools to cover any lost fees, including where families are paying by the week rather than by the term?
- What support mechanisms and assistance are available from the NSW Department of Education to ECEC services to assist them and their families with COVID-19?
- How will the NSW Department of Education support one-source-of-truth with other government agencies and the affected service(s)?
ACA NSW is conscious of ensuring that public health standards are maintained while supporting the needs of children, their parents and NSW-based ECEC services’ operations. As such, you will appreciate that ACA NSW is doing everything it can to assist members as well as non-members through this pandemic and help prevent uninformed panic.
We look forward to an update from the NSW Government.
PUBLISHED: 10 MARCH 2020