Childcare facing ‘imminent collapse’ if govt abandons relief package
Prominent industry voices are calling for a complete overhaul of the “broken” early childhood system, warning it’s on the brink of collapsing.
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Prominent industry voices are calling for a complete overhaul of the “broken” early childhood system, warning it’s on the brink of collapsing.
The Federal Government’s childcare relief funding has cost about $131 million a week and $917 million to date, according to figures heard at the Senate Select Committee on Tuesday.
The 50 per cent of fee revenue payment provided to centres has been tipped to end on June 28 but it’s been warned that could have disastrous economic fallout.
After 20 years as an early childhood educator, Townsville woman Janelle Moro walked away from her senior management position feeling defeated and fed up with its failed operation.
She said the whole system needed a shake-up but so did the Government and the public’s treatment of its workforce.
“We expect our staff to do educational programs and teach each individual child and there’s a minimum requirement of reporting on top of that,” she said.
“We have so many regulations to abide by, but we don’t have support from anyone that we’re actually qualified professionals.
“It’s not seen as a valuable commodity and we’re classified as less valuable than a garbage collector.”
Ms Moro said early childcare educators carried an enormous amount of responsibility for early educational and emotional development that was being overlooked in this debate.
“We comfort them when they’re hurt and guide them through learning their emotions,” she said.
“We prepare them for the school system with social skills and play-based learning.
“One hundred per cent of workers would say they deserve a pay increase and to be actually appreciated for the work they do.”
In 2015, former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill took a proposal to the Council of Australian Governments arguing that all states and territories take over responsibility for early childhood.
He told the Townsville Bulletin there was a general sense of support but it was shelved to address more urgent matters.
Mr Wetherill said childcare had become a central policy issue for Australia and needed immediate attention.
“Fundamentally, this should be put on the agenda for the National Cabinet and map out a national plan,” Mr Wetherill said.
“It was a good thing they (the Federal Government) introduced a principle of universal access to childcare and the unintended negative consequences have only highlighted the flaws that already existed prior.
“This is not simple but the returns are just so profound and can really shift the dialogue on lifelong disadvantage.”
Now the chief executive officer of Thrive for Five, an initiative raising outcomes for early childhood development, Mr Wetherill said those first years of life were critical to growth, well into adulthood.
He said integrating the system with education wasn’t a “utopian” response – it was realistic and necessary.
“If you consider the wellbeing trajectory of a child then this is the best possible investment as a nation we can make,” he said.
“As a country, we significantly underspend and under-invest in education by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) standards.
“We have a series of systems that don’t talk to each other and 20 per cent of our centres are not meeting national quality standards.”
Queensland’s Minister for Education Grace Grace refused to comment on her support for a complete overhaul but said she raised concerns with her federal counterpart Dan Tehan in March over the relief package.
“The Federal Government went ahead and announced its childcare package in early April without any consultation or input from state and territory ministers on Education Council,” she said.
“The problem is the Federal Government hasn’t funded it properly and has instead transferred the burden to services who are faced with a 50 per cent cut to revenue as they can no longer collect fees from families.”
Parenthood, Australia’s leading parenting advocacy organisation, has been campaigning for years for changes to the industry and now supports an education integration model.
National campaign manager Georgie Dent said the sector had been treated like a babysitting service rather than valued for the education it delivered.
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She said this model would streamline operations, better protect staff with increased wages and see the removal of a majority casual-driven workforce, as well as cut unaffordable fees.
“The old model simply will not translate after COVID,” Ms Dent said.
“Extending State Government schooling would recognise the fact that every bit of care and learning is as valuable as primary and secondary school.”
United Workers Union, which is responsible for early education workers, reported a significant increase in memberships following the Prime Minister’s announcement of free childcare.
Director Helen Gibbon said not once had the educators and support staff been included in the conversation, with many concerned about what happens after June 28.
“We know what happens when you take away that base funding and if you start charging parents when they haven’t got jobs or have had hours cut they withdraw their children,” she said
“We don’t know, and the Government don’t know, how many parents will withdraw as soon as the free childcare ends.
“Fix the system that is in place, increase from 50-60 per cent based on enrolments and expand JobKeeper to cover everyone.”
Ms Gibbon said the pandemic had exposed flaws in the system and wanted to see a new model that prioritised children above all else.
“It’s been held together by bits of string. Should we really expect 7000 employers across the nation to hold together what is an essential service?” she said.
“It’s really telling that the school system never faced a collapse, it shut down when it needed to and opened up when it needed, yet we have had to stay open the entire time.
“There’s a lot of providers in the sector, about half, which are full profit so it has in the past worked for them; it’s been good for some parents but not all and appalling wages for workers.”
Originally published as Childcare facing ‘imminent collapse’ if govt abandons relief package