Estimates Committee B Report
Thursday, 05 August 2010 10:51
04 Aug 2010
Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2419Schedule, as read, agreed to.Appropriation Bill - Estimates Committee B Report
Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (3.55 pm): I rise to speak in relation to the report of Estimates Committee B. I first note the fact that the government saw fit to put Health and Education in the same committee—half the budget, the two largest portfolios on the same day. A cynical person could certainly be forgiven for suggesting that, because of the limited media coverage available for estimates, it suited the government to have the two biggest portfolios on the same media day.
The first question that I asked had a serious point to it. It was about the rehearsals by the department of the minister, because it was apparent in the committee hearing that the minister had rehearsed things such as attacks on the opposition and attacks on shadow ministers such as me for doing work on behalf of the schools in our own constituencies. I note also that the minister, despite being continuously under questioning in the first session of the committee hearing, was able to put out a press release with direct quotes from him about the proceedings within the committee. This raises a serious question as to whether someone else is writing comments in relation to the committee and putting them out during the proceedings of the committee.
I encourage people who are interested in accountability in this state to have a look at the Hansard and in particular at the failure to answer reasonable questions about the multibillion-dollar budget inEducation—a failure that at times amounted to downright avoidance, with the minister attempting to have questions ruled out of order on obscure and technical grounds. I would also refer interested people to my statement of reservations, where I issue my thanks to the chairman, members and support staff for the committee and my suggestions for increased accountability to try to get this process right and better in the future.
In relation to the issue of early childhood, which the minister’s office sought to have one section ofthe committee’s time directed towards, the questions that I asked during that time never received satisfactory answers and, therefore, there remain serious shadows over community kindergartens in particular. The new funding model for kindergartens in Queensland moves from 80 per cent of the wages bill of the kindergarten being guaranteed under the current DECKAS funding, giving certainty to these community volunteer boards, to a $2,100 voucher system that cuts payments to kindergartens.That leaves kindies unpaid for any unfilled positions they have and that cuts out the ability to include three-year-old children in any of their vacancies that occur. At the same time, the government is building240 new kindergartens in poorly researched locations on school sites, leaving all of the providers in the area chasing 3½-year-olds and trying to ditch the now enrolled three-year-olds, which is up to 40 per cent of enrolments in some of the kindergartens that have approached the government and the opposition. This is particularly hard on regional and isolated kindergartens, where numbers vary from year to year. Those kindergartens have to work with the number of 3½-year-old children in their communities.
I raised in the committee the example of the Yeppoon kindy whose members were very concerned about its viability going forward. Let us seriously have a look at the issues confronting it. There is a wonderful volunteer community board that runs the Condy Park centre on the Fraser Coast. Currently under DECKAS funding it gets $290,000. This will drop to $252,000, a loss of $38,000, and that is assuming there is no vacancy at all, which is not a valid assumption in most cases. For each vacancy a further $2,100 comes off. They say that fees will rise dramatically and staff will be reduced.
The same applies to the Mitchelton preschool, a wonderful facility that has served that area for 60 years that is suffering a $52,000 cut to funding; the Kingaroy kindergarten that will have its funding cut by $37,661; and the Biggenden kindergarten that will see its fees double from $19 a day to $38 a day.
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