New childcare register reveals southwest as hotspot for illicit centres
SYDNEY’S southwest has been revealed as a crisis-zone for illegitimate childcare centres in a new online register published by the Government.
The Express
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THE southwest has been revealed as a crisis-zone for illegitimate childcare centres in a new online register published by the Government.
Launched last week, the Child Care Enforcement Action Register names and shames 59 NSW centres that were enrolling too many students or claiming taxpayer subsidies between July 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017.
A staggering 70 per cent of those caught were operating from Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool and Fairfield.
Those on the list may be driven out of business as their Commonwealth childcare subsidies — $6 per student each hour — are suspended or cancelled.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government will “take no prisoners” with operators rorting the system, some to the tune of “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.
“This register should serve as a warning to providers that if you’re non-compliant and do the wrong thing you will be hung out to dry,” he said.
“We don’t want dodgy individuals looking after Australian children.”
But Sharon Baldwin, who founded the former not-for-profit children’s playgroup Sydney Creative Play, thinks the term “dodgy” is unfair.
Ms Baldwin says the register is focusing on mostly family daycare providers in the southwest, an area with lots of low-income migrant women.
“None of the complaints are related to the care of the children so I think urging parents to look up ‘dodgy’ centres is unfair,” Ms Baldwin said. “Looking through the register it’s all noncompliance issues — people who haven’t paid their fees or done their paperwork properly — which is a big challenge for non-native English speakers.”
Blaxland Labor MP Jason Clare said his party supported the transparency of the register.
“When centres aren’t abiding by strict guidelines to provide a safe and supportive environment for our children, it is completely appropriate they no longer receive government support,” Mr Clare said.
The new register will be updated quarterly basis and is available at: education.gov.au/child-care-enforcement-action-register.
