Kate Lundy, Senator for the ACT has deplored the EPAC report into child care as the end of quality child care in Australia and predicted a return to low- quality, inaccessible care in the future.
The EPAC report Future Child Care Provisions in Australia has been with the Federal Government for several weeks and was only released to the public last night.
“The release of this report is a black day for child care in Australia and our children will be the greatest losers,” Senator Lundy said today.
“Parent choice will be diminished rather than enhanced. Parent-run community centres will be squeezed out of the industry. The Government will introduce an inferior home-based system where quality and safety simply can not be monitored. Existing family-day care organisations will be ignored while private, market-driven centres will come and go according to viability.
“This type of system will not provide the long term security that is essential to children’s needs. Nor does it recognise that families have different needs and expectations. Simplicity does not increase choice, diversity does.
>”I have been intensely involved with developments in child care over the past six months and what has continually disappointed me has been the focus on financial savings to the Government rather than the needs of children.
“The children should always be the primary concern of policy makers. This report simply repeats government policy and direction. It could have been written in the Minister’s office. The Government has already cut child care by $211 million in their budget and this report simply gives them more savings.
“The Government’s policy does not recognise that child care is a work-related expense. Financial assistance to parents will be cut further. Many will have to make the difficult decision whether to even continue to work. Others will be forced to seek cheaper care where the quality will be questionable. As Governments we should be more concerned about the care of children under five,” Senator Lundy said.
For further information please call Senator Lundy or Kym Connolly on 230 0411.
