House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1) 53 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Childcare Services Childcare Services Mr PISONI House of Assembly Unley Childcare Services Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Why did the government not follow through with the commitment it made to Childcare SA in November 2011 to move the ratio of childcare workers from one worker for every 10 children to a ratio of one worker in every eight children in 2016? The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly Wright Minister for Education and Child Development Childcare Services The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:54): I thank the member for Unley for his question. This has been a matter of national agreement and a matter of legislation passing both houses of this parliament, as I understand it. I think, from recollection, that the member for Unley, in fact, supported the legislation as it passed this chamber. This is about national standards and they have not been introduced overnight. I think it goes back to 2010-2011. I am told that half of the nation already meets the 1:5 requirement—the ACT, Tasmania, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Victoria. New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia have until 1 January 2016 to do that. I am informed that our assessors generally report that our childcare centres are currently operating well above the ratio staffing when it comes to childcare services moving towards the new ratio, so we are well on track. I am told that generally our childcare centres are not operating at 1:10 but are more likely to be currently around 1:7 or 1:6. So they have until 2016 to comply and certainly they have known about this since 2010-2011. There were a number of statements made by some providers when reducing the ratio was flagged some time ago. Goodstart Early Learning CEO, Julia Davison, said that higher staff to child ratios were a critical component of ensuring high quality learning and one area where we need to improve here in South Australia. This is about the development of our children at the most critical time. I would challenge anyone in this chamber to be able to effectively care for and help 10 two to three year olds develop appropriately. What you have in a 1:10 child ratio is child minding, not child development.