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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-21 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

CHILDCARE SERVICES

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:10): In recent days in the house I have initiated two actions—one a select committee on child care and the other a private member's bill to do with child care. While I do not want to reflect on those two initiatives for obvious reasons, I do want to make some general comments about the challenge South Australia faces with childcare affordability at present and put a few things on the record.

Can I say first of all that I think successive governments, both Labor and Liberal, federal and state, have over a period of time mismanaged the growth of child care within this state and nationally for that matter. The fact is that the private small family business sector is a significant player in the provision of long day care services and that by a COAG initiative, at the instigation of a former federal Labor government, the responsibility for child care falls to the commonwealth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Silence!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Over a period of time, this state, along with other state governments, have allowed themselves to be drawn into the business of child care, in effect constituting a cost transfer from the commonwealth to the states. In doing so, they have diverted funding out of high school and primary school education into the provision of new childcare services that ought rightly to have been funded by the commonwealth, provided by the private sector, but funded through childcare benefits and childcare rebates.

There are a range of reasons why this happened. Some in the bureaucracy think that child care and all early childhood services should be run by the government and object to the private sector being involved. There are other stakeholders: the unions, various entities, that for one reason or another—

The SPEAKER: A point of order from the member for Elder. Would the member for Waite be seated, please.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I regret taking it because I have a lot of respect for the member for Waite, but I just want to ask you: does the member have a private member's bill before the chamber on this matter which was debated earlier today?

The SPEAKER: Yes, the member for Waite's bill on child care was moved this day.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: In fact, I addressed that issue when I made my opening remarks. I pointed out to the house that I have raised two issues. I do not want to make specific reference to either of those two issues. The bill deals with a very specific matter; I am talking generally about the problems facing the sector and I am not making reference to the bill.

The SPEAKER: Member for Waite, you must be very careful not to anticipate the debate on what happens to be your own bill, so I will listen to your remarks very carefully, but if it impinges on any of the clauses of your bill, I will have to sit you down.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I thank you for your guidance, but I am telling you my remarks do not impinge on the bill and—

The SPEAKER: I will be the judge of that.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Well, very good, please do. There are some specific issues that I think the government needs to address. For a start, there are a number of childcare centres which the government has built which are simply empty and not operating—the Roma Mitchell college and Mark Oliphant College, for example. We have 30-place childcare centres supposed to open at Gepps Cross which have never opened their doors.

There are other services that the state government, over time, has established that are either underutilised or are not open and, frankly, they are often built in places where the small family business sector of child care is either present or could equally provide those services funded by the commonwealth.

Could I also point out to the house that a number of TAFE childcare centres have closed. Some in my electorate, for example, Panorama TAFE has recently closed their childcare centre, and the O'Halloran Hill childcare centre facing closure is part of TAFE's relocation to the former Mitsubishi site. So, where the government has entered into the business of child care, it does not always seem to be working well. Similarly, we are switching money from high school and primary school education into child care where the commonwealth should be paying—whether it is a community-based or a private centre—through the childcare benefit and childcare assistance.

There are a host of challenges that the sector is facing. I note the reports in the Southern Times Messenger that the Onkaparinga Council is trying to save the Hackham family centre which is facing issues to do with closure. I had correspondence recently from a private school in my electorate indicating that the cost of running their outside-school-hours centre had increased by $50,000 in 2012 as a direct result of staffing ratios and qualifications prescribed by new early years legislation. These are important costs. We have, as I have mentioned, childcare centres that have been built and funded by the state taxpayer not open; we have others that are closing. This is a real problem that this state faces that needs to be remedied.

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