NEW MINISTER ADMITS TO LABOR'S BROKEN PROMISES

10-June-2009

Labor’s new Early Childhood Education & Childcare Minister Kate Ellis has admitted that Labor’s pre-election promises on A-E reporting of childcare standards and universal preschool for all 4 year-olds would not be delivered, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.

 “Now we just need the Minister to admit that Labor’s much-publicised promise to build 260 new Childcare Centres will also never happen – and we’ll have the trifecta,” Mrs Mirabella said.

 “The fact is that Labor made all sorts of grandiose promises on Early Childhood Education and Childcare before the last election – but they have amounted to practically nothing.”

 Mrs Mirabella said that Labor’s Plan for Early Childhood in the 2007 election promised that,

 “Federal Labor will ensure that all four years olds have access to early learning.  All four years olds will be eligible to receive 15 hours of Government-funded early learning programs per week, for a minimum of 40 weeks per year……….As one of the most significant additions to Australia’s education system in more than a generation, a year of universal preschool will take time to implement.

 “There can be no other interpretation of this promise other than that Labor promised 15 hours of free preschool for all four year olds.  Labor’s policy stated that it would be “Government-funded” and that it was “universal preschool”.”

 “Now the Minister has admitted that it will not be free and it will be up to the State and Territories how much parents will be charged.  Well – that’s how it has been operating for years - and we have parents in NSW and Queensland paying absolutely prohibitive fees and low preschool attendance rates.  This is a cop out.”

 Mrs Mirabella said Labor had also promised an A-E rating system for Childcare Centres, which was to have been implemented last year, but that is now also on the scrap heap.

 “And in the budget papers it was revealed that Labor will postpone indefinitely the building of 222 of the 260 Centres they promised working parents before the last election.  Remember how Rudd promised to end the ‘dreaded double drop off”? Well, that’s another broken promise in anyone’s language.”

 Mrs Mirabella said she welcomed Minister’s Ellis’ assertion that the final Early Years Learning Framework – a curriculum for early learning – would “allow kids to be kids”.

 “We’ll be closely examining the final Framework and how it is implemented – because this whole process has been bogged down with academic jargon and some over-the-top social engineering.  The Coalition all along has been saying that the Framework must be practical, simple and it must allow kids to be kids and play naturally.  Equally it has to be something that is helpful for carers and educators – not highly theoretical.”

 However, Mrs Mirabella said she was “not buying” the Minister’s assertion that the Government has failed to provide any data on childcare vacancies because it was “unreliable”.

 “The last time vacancy data was released was in April 2007- over 2 years ago - under the Howard Government.  Labor must come clean and release this vacancy data on a regional and suburb-by-suburb basis so that the industry has some indication of areas of over-supply and high demand,” Mrs Mirabella said.