Question Time

Regional Childcare Services

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development about regional communities.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The media have reported that 82 per cent of regional South Australians are living without access to child care, forcing businesses in country towns to close their doors and communities to go without vital services. This report has prompted industry bodies to call on the state and federal governments to introduce new licensing criteria to ensure the establishment of centres in areas without support (also known as childcare deserts). My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the minister acknowledge that the critical shortage of childcare centres is a huge problem for regional South Australia?

2. What assistance will the Malinauskas Labor government provide to reduce pressure on regional communities having to travel long distances from their area to access childcare services?

3. Will the Labor government support new licensing criteria that will take into account childcare centres in remote areas?

4. Will the minister make a commitment to ensure that the Labor government's regional development strategy includes a plan to ensure childcare centres are accessible for regional families?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for her question. In terms of some of the specifics in the question, I will certainly refer that to the relevant minister in the other place and bring back a response to the chamber.

In general terms, I think I can certainly respond on the topic in a broad way. Certainly, on my many visits to regional areas, I have had the issue of child care raised on a number of occasions. In fact, I think when I was at Jamestown last year at the Jamestown Show we had a Q and A with myself and Rowan Ramsay, member for Grey, our local government representative, and unfortunately Senator Don Farrell was due to be there as well but was sick on the day with suspected COVID so he wasn't able to be there.

It was a particular line of discussion at that particular forum and particularly useful, I think, in terms of ventilating some of the issues. They relate not just to the absence of the childcare infrastructure—so the physical buildings—but also the difficulties even for existing childcare centres in obtaining staff. We know that regional workforce shortages are a significant problem across many industries, and certainly child care is not exempt from that.

Of course, our government has committed to implementing three-year-old preschool and providing capacity for that, including the royal commission that has been established looking at accessibility issues, and specifically it references, if I recall correctly, accessibility in regional areas. That is one part of the puzzle.

We know that these are interrelated matters. There are a lot of factors that are interdependent and we are working hard as a government to look at all of the barriers to workforce participation in terms of paid workforce participation and we will continue to do so.