Fed: Childcare advocates welcome proposal

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2008
Fed: Childcare advocates welcome proposal

By Susanna Dunkerley and Kim Christian

CANBERRA, April 17 AAP - The childcare industry is split over who should run Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd's proposed one-stop childcare centres.

Mr Rudd has outlined a plan to establish universal childcare centres that would provide
health and welfare checks, long day care and preschool education facilities in one.

Community childcare advocates have welcomed the idea but are concerned by Mr Rudd's
suggestion that the private sector could play a key role.

Community Child Care Association executive director Barbara Romeril said the belief
that involving the private sector would make services better was "worrying".

"That hasn't been the experience," Ms Romeril told ABC radio.

She said involving the private sector would stall competition in the already tight market.

"Commercialisation of children's services in fact has shown unproductive competition.

"Competition between providers hasn't driven up quality or driven prices down - that's
a real flaw in this vision."

The proposal will be up for discussion at this weekend's Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra.

Mr Rudd said there was no point in getting "obsessed with the form of delivery" at
this early stage.

"Not-for-profits ... do a fantastic job, but ... there are certain for-profits around
the country who are doing good things as well," Mr Rudd said.

"But the key thing is getting that policy direction settled, agreed and then you look
at different forms of delivery."

The peak private-sector body - Childcare Associations Australia - said the focus should
be on the service not the delivery.

"It is not a matter of who owns the service. What does matter is the components of
the service," acting executive director Helen Kenneally told AAP.

"What does matter is that the components of the service we provide work in the interest
of children."

Ms Kenneally said the private sector had an important role to play in the plan because
it represented 70 per cent of the 5,400 long day care centres across Australia.

"We can't lose that infrastructure - what we have to make sure is that what goes on
in the infrastructure is in the best interests of our children."

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson welcomed the proposal but wanted to see a price tag.

"The idea of having a one-stop shop in most things is appealing - childcare, early
learning, parental education...," Dr Nelson told ABC radio on the NSW Central Coast.

"I've noticed he hasn't yet put any cost on it - I'm sure it's going to be very expensive."

Meanwhile, childcare parliamentary secretary Maxine McKew said an overhaul of the school
year timetable was needed to give working parents greater flexibility with holidays.

She said it was a struggle for parents to balance four weeks' annual leave with up
to 12 weeks of school holidays and many had to rely on grandparents and formal childcare.

"We have a work year that is pretty much 48 weeks or whatever, and we have a school
year that's about ... two-thirds of that," she told Sky News today.

"It's crazy. If we are going to think big, we need to think about some sort of sensible
realignment of the work year with (the) school year or vice versa."

AAP sld/sb/jl/mn

KEYWORD: SUMMIT NIGHTLEAD

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