Due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the originally scheduled March-April 2020 roadshows of the NSW Department of Education was called off. Instead, the NSW Regulatory Authority decided to conduct on-line webinars and recorded videos post sessions. The next livestreamed session will be on Thursday, 9 April 2020, at 11 am (AEST) via their new Facebook page.

The NSW Department of Education has also asked for questions to be e-mailed to them so that they can answer them. And their list of answers to previous questions is available here.

That said, many members of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW have asked what are the common unanswered questions that services may have been posing to the NSW Department of Education. Alongside the ACA NSW's efforts, the following can be e-mailed to the NSW Department of Education:

1. Is the NSW Regulatory Authority's recommending a reduction of the number of children attending at the service in order to achieve the social distancing objectives of the NSW Government?
   
   
2. Given the tumultuous period resulting from COVID-19 and services' need to remain financially and operationally viable, what flexibility will the NSW Regulatory Authority provide in relation to approved providers' compliance with Regulation 172(1) where notification must be made at least 14 days prior to the service’s provision of education and care to any child, and the family’s ability to utilise the service?
   
   
3. As there is no guarantee that every First Aid training can be conducted on-line, will the NSW Regulatory Authority provide written and public assurance that every service will be forgiven and will not receive any financial penalties upon having made reasonable and genuine efforts to comply with Regulation 136 in respect of educators/teachers' First Aid qualifications? Can the NSW Department of Education emulate the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian's extensions and also offer a 6-month deferral of the requirements of Regulation 136?
   
   
4. In light of the social distancing requirements for essential gatherings, are fire equipment checks still required or can they be deferred for 6 months?
   
   
5. In anticipation of the Federal Government's initiative of offering free childcare for children of essential workers, can the NSW Department of Education provide a written guarantee that the choice of service of parents who are such essential workers will solely remain with those parents?
   
   
6. Will the NSW Government emulate the intentions of the Federal Government and introduce additional NSW funding to support services during this COVID-19 pandemic period? In particular, will the NSW Government increase the Start Strong funding to long daycare services (including community, not-for-profit and privately-owned services) where the current amount is $459 per child per year which is much lower than that of South Australia, Queensland and Victoria where the amount is between $2,011 to $3,600 per child per year? Moreover, the NSW Department of Education prohibits the use of the Start Strong funding by long daycare services to offset some labour costs, whereas the other three states do permit such use.
   
   
7. Will the NSW Department of Education revisit the announcement made by the NSW Treasurer on 19 June 2018 where he said in Parliament "And from 2019, in an Australian first, every three-year-old in New South Wales will now have access to subsidised early learning." Will every 3-year-old receiving NSW Government funding and not just those in community preschools? 

PUBLISHED: 8 APRIL 2020