Parliamentary Speeches
Transcript, The Circle, Channel Ten
04 Jun 2010THE HON KATE ELLIS MP
MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION,
CHILD CARE AND YOUTH
TRANSCRIPT
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION
THE CIRCLE, CHANNEL TEN
FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2010
YUMI STYNES: In 2004 at age 27 Kate Ellis became the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives. Good job sister. Now Miss Ellis is the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Youth, and Sport.
GORGI COGHLAN: Childcare is shaping up to be a big issue for parents going to the polls at the upcoming Federal election. So to answer your questions about this important topic and a few of our own queries please welcome Minister Kate Ellis.
Hi Minister. Thanks so much for joining us on The Circle.
KATE ELLIS: It's great to be here.
GORGI COGHLAN: Now I think we - given the number of emails we have from childcare, it is going to become a big election issues. Can we just go through maybe, there's a lot of angst and there's a lot of concern from parents at the moment due to several factors.
The Government have recently said that they're not going to build as many centres as they once promised. Also you've decreased the annual childcare rebate, the capping of that. And there's also been an increase in what has to be quality reforms which may mean more staff for childcare centres, aren't all these things going to just mean more money for parents when they're already saying that they can't get their kids into childcare centres?
KATE ELLIS: Well I think there's no question that childcare is a massive issue for families right around the nation. Just in regards to some of the things, we've actually massively increased the rebate. We increased the rebate from 30 to 50 per cent and the cap on that rebate from some $4300 to $7500 so we haven't really had debate on the full issue.
We're actually spending $10 billion more in this area then the previous government were but there's no question that it can be really hard for families and this is a big issue and they're hard issues that we need to work through with people which is one of the reasons why it's so important that we can do things like this or go out and talk directly to the community and see what those specific concerns are and if we can address them.
YUMI STYNES: All right, well one of them is that the way that the rebate is paid, there's a big lag between when the parents pay the money to childcare and when they get the rebate back. And for so many families I know it's great to have like a $5000 buffer in your bank account, a lot of people don't and paying that and then waiting a long, long time to get it back can be excruciating for families.
Is there some way we can shrink that gap?
KATE ELLIS: Well there is. When - I mean, when we came into government, that rebate was paid annually and you had this issue where there's quite a disconnect between the bills that you're constantly paying and then a cheque that you might get once a year. So we've moved that from annual payments to quarterly payments just to bring it to when people are...
GORGI COGHLAN: But families are pushing for weekly payments. Why can't we do weekly payments?
KATE ELLIS: Well I understand that and we have moved a long way to where we're paying that and I guess we have to balance up, there are a whole range of extra costs that are associated with that and we just have to look at - we are investing massive amounts of money in here but we need to talk to the community about whether that money should invested in making childcare more affordable, more accessible, bringing payments forward, there's a whole range of different priorities so we're trying to balance all of that.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Mmm or building new centres. We did have an email from Kristy, she wants to know how the Government established that there were plenty of childcare vacancies available before deciding to scrap plans to build the extra centres that it promised.
KATE ELLIS: Well I guess I would very quickly say two things on that. One is that we're really trying to build an evidence base on which we make policy decisions which means that for the first time now we're collecting consistent vacancy data right around the country so we can see where there's vacancies, where there isn't and we can response to that.
So we do have an evidence base for the first time in that regard but the other issue is of course that when we made that promise, it was before the collapse of ABC Learning and I think sometimes we forget just how massive that way, 1000 childcare centres right around the country, over night, in danger of closing their doors and the tens of thousands of families relying upon that service having no where to go.
CHRISSIE SWAN: But doesn't that make it even more unusual for the Government to then say, you know, 1000 centres have closed but still there's plenty of vacancies?
KATE ELLIS: Well I guess the issue is that we stepped in so that we could save - over 90 per cent of those services are no open today. But what we did do is have a good look at how we can prevent that from ever happening to our childcare market again and what we saw is that we've had a massive growth in the market. There's over 1000 childcare centres that have been built over recent years, a massive expansion. And we - it showed that a further injection of hundreds of childcare centres in the market would actually jeopardise and potentially make unviable some of the existing centres.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Right.
KATE ELLIS: So we're trying to make sure there's accessible childcare but at the same time that it's stable and that our market never faces those sorts of threats which put up to 100,000 families in danger of having nowhere to drop their kids off the next morning.
CHRISSIE SWAN: I know, it was an absolute nightmare for so many people.
GORGI COGHLAN: Because there's still so many mothers that are saying that as soon as they're pregnant they're having to enrol their children, or their babies to be, in childcare. This lady, Ange Smith, has said she's found family daycare is usually just as unavailable everywhere else that she's found. Waiting lists are ridiculous for all childcare. She had herself on a waiting list once she was 20 weeks pregnant, went back to work when her son was just 11 weeks old because she had to but she didn't get him in childcare until he was eight months old.
CHRISSIE SWAN: So why is that happening? That's happening all the time, why is it?
KATE ELLIS: Well and it's affecting people's employment decisions, obviously their balance. What we've seen is that whilst there are vacancies overall, obviously it can be really hard to find vacancies where you need them and particularly when you need them to fit in.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Right.
KATE ELLIS: So I'm not trying to suggest for a second that this isn't really hard for families out there but we just discovered that the answer wasn't necessarily building hundreds of more centres so what we're doing is one; we're mapping this vacancy data and it's all online. So people can go to mychild.gov.au, put in their local area, their postcode, find out where there's vacancies and when which is hopefully helping them.
But obviously there are some areas where there is - there might be local baby boom at one time, there could be a shortage of places.
CHRISSIE SWAN: So what's the answer for those areas once you do identify that there is not enough supply and too much demand, what's the answer there, another centre?
KATE ELLIS: Well potentially yeah. And we fund unlimited places so that we can encourage centres to set up in areas of need.
GORGI COGHLAN: Minister, would you consider - I mean, one of the problems that I think is also - someone like me, when I'm lucky enough to get pregnant, I will hopefully love my time with my baby but want to come back to work.
Now wouldn't it be a good idea to encourage employers saucy as Channel 10, or any other business, to have some form of cr�che, or supportive network for the females that are working for that business, give a great sort of rebate or financial incentive from the Government's point of view, so that therefore, I'm happy mum, baby's happy because mum's there...
YUMI STYNES: Work's happy because you've got your worker...
GORGI COGHLAN: ...work's happy because I'm back. You know, why wouldn't the Government consider a model like that?
KATE ELLIS: Well we do in some ways but I guess you've also got to be conscious of the fact that the last thing we want is to build up a massive divide between the mothers who are working for large corporations or big companies, and then those mothers that are out there working in small business or juggling part time jobs.
What we want to do is make sure that there are solutions in place for everyone. So...
GORGI COGHLAN: [Interrupts] But wouldn't that free up the spaces for those mums that...
KATE ELLIS: Yeah well it does and there are some great examples, there are some great examples. I can't speak specifically about Channel 10 but I hope they're doing wonderful things, but there are some great examples of Australian companies investing in this because it's good for the mothers, or the fathers, but that means it's good for their business. They get to hold on to their workers.
YUMI STYNES: With it being voluntary, I think it's going to be hard to get businesses to do it.
KATE ELLIS: Well I guess that's why we - that's why we've looked at universal schemes and certainly the paid parental leave legislation which passed through the House of Representatives this week, it's a huge step for Australian families and it means that we need to support businesses to do that right thing but also offer a safety net so that those people that don't happen to work for those businesses have a solution as well.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Minister one more question before we go we've had a lot...
KATE ELLIS: This is always the hard hitter, the last one.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Yeah, not it's actually, no it's all right. No, no, no, we've just had a lot of emails about it. Childcare centres need to stop charging on public holidays. What do you think?
KATE ELLIS: Well some childcare centres do, some don't. That's an issue for their company. But I guess it comes to the overwhelming issue is that childcare workers out there do an incredible job and incredibly important job and they need to get paid whether it's a public holiday or not.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Agreed.
KATE ELLIS: So some companies charge for that. The Government will still step in and pay the rebate to when people are being charged, but it's up to individual childcare centres and people should check it out first.
CHRISSIE SWAN: All right.
GORGI COGHLAN: Before you go, just quickly want to ask you, you're off to the World Cup next week.
KATE ELLIS: I am at the end of next week.
GORGI COGHLAN: Which is very exciting and go Socceroos, and you're not concerned at all - there has been a bit of chat about terrorist attacks. You're not concerned about any of that?
KATE ELLIS: Oh look I think that when people travel anywhere in the world, there are different risks wherever you go, but all precautions have been put in place.
People just need to be careful about the decisions they're making, acknowledge not everywhere is as safe and secure as Australia and I'm just looking forward to getting out there and pressing our World Cup bid negotiations because I cannot think of a better place on the planet than to be holding such a massive sporting event than in Australia and we're working very hard to try and bring it home with us.
GORGI COGHLAN: Good luck with that.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Wonderful, well bon voyage.
KATE ELLIS: Thank you.
CHRISSIE SWAN: Please thank our very special guest this morning, Kate Ellis.
ENDS
Minister Ellis' media: Jamila Rizvi 0438 644 603
DEEWR media: media@deewr.gov.au Non-media queries: 1300 363 079