Mirabella calls for urgent release of childcare vacancy data
28-May-2009
The Rudd Government has no excuse to continue covering-up information on childcare vacancies, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella told Federal Parliament today.
“The collapse of ABC Learning has raised all sorts of demand and supply issues within the childcare industry. In order to provide some certainty in the childcare market, the industry’s main requirement now is to have some idea where demand hotspots and chronic undersupply are actually located,” Mrs Mirabella said during a speech in Parliament.
“The Government has contributed to this uncertainty by refusing to release the childcare vacancy data which was last released publicly under the Howard Government in April 2007.”
“I’ll take this opportunity to once again implore the Minister and Parliamentary Secretary to do something about providing an indication of vacancy rates in the childcare sector. This is one of the most crucial things the Government can do to help with the future planning and viability of the sector.”
Mrs Mirabella told Parliament that the Childcare industry has effectively been “flying blind” since April of 2007.
“Alarmingly, the utilisation rates in Long Day Care in the 2006 Childcare Census were 74% - down from 85% in the 2004 Census. That’s a dramatic drop in just 2 years and we don’t know what the situation currently is.”
“The Parliamentary Secretary announced on the 5th of this month that the new Childcare Management System (CCMS) is now fully operational. Surely this means that the Government can now provide an accurate indication of utilisation rates within every Centre across the country?”
“You really have to wonder why the Government continues to be so very, very reluctant to reveal the data on vacancy rates. They collect it electronically every single week. Every week.”
Mrs Mirabella said the Government’s reluctance to release vacancy data could stem from their own plan to build 260 new Centres – which were recently “put on hold indefinitely” in the Federal Budget.
“On Budget Night, Julia Gillard’s Ministerial Statement on Education, made a quiet two line reference saying that,“The remaining up to 222 early learning and care centres will be considered when the child care market is settled and based on the experience of the priority centres.”
“But it is the actions of the Government, by refusing to release the vacancy data, which is contributing to this uncertainty and instability of the market.”
“It’s time for the Government to start answering the tough questions about their failure to release vacancy data and their own plans to create a Government-funded childcare empire,” Mrs Mirabella concluded.