Child Care Fees
Thursday, 02 September 2010 12:37
Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (11.44 am): One of the cost pressures facing Queensland families is the impending dramatic increase in the cost of child care, which is estimated to be between $13 and $20 per day or $65 per week. Those opposite have shown a deafening silence on the issue of the cost of child care. We have seen award simplification procedures push up costs by $2 to $4 a day. We have thisbizarre new model of DECKAS funding that is so bizarre it is unquantifiable. It is dragging children out of long-day-care centres. It uses a process of giving selected long-day-care centres a voucher for $1,200.
This process is opaque and those in the industry believe the selection process for these day-care centres is corrupt. Workers compensation premiums for this industry have increased by double the amount of other workers compensation premiums. Those in the industry face an increase of around 30 per cent.
Then we have the national quality framework that came out of COAG on 7 December last year.The regulatory impact statement estimates that this could cost Queensland families up to $800 million, that places in child-care centres will be lost, with an average of six places per centre being lost, and that we could lose 1,000 places for babies in child-care centres in this state.This government appears to have little understanding of the mechanisms in the child-care sector.By dropping staff ratios from four babies to three babies per staff member, this unprofitable service will become more and more difficult for people to access, while the areas where child-care centres are able to make enough money to keep going are gradually being whittled down by the government.