The Coalition's Childcare Plan...

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Permalink Reply by Bevan Pearson on July 27, 2010 at 9:39pm

Sadly there are many parents in the community who take advantage of child care centres by using the services provided, promising payment, blame centrelink for messing up their CCB and then skip to another centre where they do the same before moving on again. I have seen articles published by parents in Gold Coast newspapers where parents gloat on how they cheat the centres by not paying fees, and roart the system by claiming the rebate.

I think that the Coalition point on paying the rebate on a weekly bais to child care providers has a great deal of merit and is the only way that unscrupulous parents ripping off the system and not paying fees.

As well meaning as the government may be, it is political blindness to think that the proposal to give parents an option of paying a fortnightly rebate directly to them to help ease the cost of living pressures, it is completely naieve and will do absolutely nothing in the majority of instances to assist with the payment of child care fees. It really is a pipe dream and the parents already cheating the system and defrauding child care centres will be rubbing their hands together at the very thought of more money to spend on anything but paying child care fees. Sadly Ms Gillard is living in a dream world and really does not know the difficulty that child care providers face when it comes to fee defaulters and the high level of debt being carried because of them.

There is only one way to ease the burden on providers and give them a financial opportunity to improve their service and that is to pay the rebate directly to the child care centres. In a very high number of instances it is their only chance child care providers have of being paid for the service they have already rendered.

If the Coalition were not to proceed with the new rating system for child care it would be a blessing in disguise. Centre operators are currently bearing the brunt of increasing financial burdens in running their centres and in the very vast majority of cases are already providing a high quality level of care. What the government is talking about is not new. Most providers have been doing for many years, exactly what the government are trying to beat the drum about and pretending they have come up with something new in the child care industry. Nothing is new here and I think that care providers should feel disenchanted that the government is trying to teach them how to suck eggs and not giving them any real support. There is nothing wrong with change and continual improvement in the industry but it can be done without being completely rediculous.

I think the Coalition is definately on the right track when they speak of consultation with the early learning sector. I attended several meetings run by the government in so called consultation with the industry but the fact of the matter was that it was simply "lip service" and nothing more. Few of the presenters knew what they were talking about and could not answer questions posed by the groups that were assembled and it was really a case of pretending that they were consulting with the industry when the decisions had already been taken. What was suggested "may occur as a change" has occured and the consultation was merely a smoke screen.

I believe that it is time that someone "got real" whether it be the government or the Coalition. Certainly, make improvements where necessary without being rediculous. I don't think any providers would object to that. In doing so however, give some consideration to the service providers, try to establish an understanding of how they are being ripped off by a large number of parents, and stop the cheats who are defrauding the centres and the system and laughing about it all the way to the pub, fast food outlets, shopping centres etc. No child care fee payments here!!

What about giving the families with two working parents who are "paying" full fees and trying to make a go of their lives, give something to their families, and contribute to the community? Certainly there are many deserving families who need and deserve assistance but there are also many who rely on handouts. Many don't work and don't want to, don't pay the minimal fees asked of them, receive all the benefits, and expect that everyone in the community and government owes them something.

I will vote for anyone who has the intestinal fortitude to stand up and be counted by paying the rebate to the child care centres to ensure the money goes to child care and not to everything but for the care of their children. Level the playing field for all working parents who have to use child care centres by necessity so they don't feel ripped off, as well as supporting those who use child care by choice because in many cases just want to dump the kids off on someone else for the day while they get on with their leisure time.

Permalink Reply by david brown on August 3, 2010 at 12:48pm

I fully agree with your email. I am a childcare owner and do not experience many bad debts, but for those that do a runner it is virtually impossible to track the scum and recover the money. There are 2 other items I believe the government should address and that is the refusal to pay the tax rebate to families where 1 parent does not work as this catches both low income earners and the rich who can afford to have 1 parent not working. The second point is the need for 4 year trained teacher based on total numbers of children attending a childcare centre. We would like to add 10 6mth to 2 year olds to our centre but we would have to employ a 4 years trained university teacher graduate. For 10 babies ?????? The number of teaching gradutes should be based on the number of 3-5 year olds in a centre.