Gillard must reveal childcare vacancy rates

01-December-2008

The childcare industry is “flying blind” on child care demand and vacancy levels and Minister Gillard should urgently reveal the figures to help inform the way the industry deals with the ABC Learning crisis, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today

“I have been meeting with many representatives from all sectors of the childcare industry over the past few months – the most common feedback is that getting accurate data on demand hotspots or areas of oversupply is near impossible,” Mrs Mirabella said.

“We have the absurd situation where the Government now has both a hotline and a website – both of which provide advice to parents on local availability - but we have no big picture on vacancy rates nationwide.”

Mrs Mirabella said the last reporting of national child care vacancies was on the 19th of April 2007 by former Families Minister Mal Brough – and that report showed between 113,000 and 139,000 vacancies each weekday across all forms of childcare.

“In planning for the future, we have to start with the basics – reliable data on supply and demand is vital. All Childcare Centres must report their vacancies each week – so why haven’t the figures been released over the past 19 months? It makes absolutely no sense,’ Mrs Mirabella said

“The Minister is telling the industry to make “expression of interest” applications on ABC Learning Centres – but there is no clear picture on supply and demand in any region.”

“We have the strange situation, revealed by the Union, where some of the 385 ABC Learning Centres that could possibly close next year have 100% occupancy rates. Conversely, there are many Council-run Centres that have thousands on their waiting lists – but many nearby operators reporting vacancies. It turns out that most of the people on these lists already have childcare, but they’d prefer to move to a particular centre.”

“And on top of all this, we have the Government pledging to build 260 new Child Care Centres around the country – but refusing to say on what basis they determine the need to build a particular Centre. The childcare industry needs decent data to help them get an idea of what the real picture is, so everyone involved can confidently plan for the future. ”

“Surely Julia Gillard can provide the industry with an accurate, up-to-date breakdown of childcare availability? She has the figures – now, more than ever before, the childcare industry needs to know the real picture,” Mrs Mirabella said.

“In Opposition, the ALP called on the Government to release this data. I ask the Minister – in Government – to reveal such figures immediately,” Mrs Mirabella concluded.