ARMEDIA ? Kate Ellis and Adrian Piccoli discuss Early Childhood ...

Rattler had a front-row seat as more than 200 members turned out at the Sydney Masonic Centre to hear Kate Ellis, Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare, and Adrian Piccoli, NSW Minister for Education, tackle the sector?s hottest topics.

Community Child Care Co-operative (NSW) recently saw the return of its annual social policy forum for members?Early Childhood Education and Care: Burning Issues.

Introducing the forum, Leanne Gibbs, Community Child Care CEO, praised the ?great direction? the sector is moving in with the NQF. ?It is a work in progress, but I haven?t met anyone yet who disagrees with the NQF, nor what it brings for children,? Ms Gibbs said.

?But we are still arguing about who pays and how much it costs,? she added. ?So Ministers, let?s get it together, and Minister Piccoli, give yourself the best bet and make NSW look great, a real winner.?

With that, it was over to the Ministers.

In her speech, Early Childhood and Childcare Minister Kate Ellis acknowledged the 20 per cent increase of children in care and education since the government was elected in 2007, as well as barriers to new and existing services in meeting demand. She also praised the sector?s implementation of the NQF, recognising the increased workload resulting from the new regulations: ?We are hearing that it is manageable and that it?s expected to decrease over time once the transition takes place.?

Minister Ellis then congratulated Community Child Care on its ?really integral role in providing child care services with the professional support that they need and that they deserve?.

She also praised Community Child Care?s role in her Early Childhood Education and Care forum, its ?ongoing support of the implementation of the National Quality Framework?, for ?supporting services in preparing for the NQF?, and also for being ?a great advocate? for community childcare services and on behalf of families.

?We know that investment in early childhood is an investment in the wellbeing long term,? she finished. ?It is actually an investment in the prosperity of our nation so thank you for your work that you?re doing.?

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli then presented his wrap-up of the sector from a New South Wales perspective, including why he hasn?t released the long-awaited Brennan Review into funding for the sector. He said ?detailed expert modelling? of the data was needed first, as was confirmation of Commonwealth funding beyond 2013. (*The Commonwealth has since announced a further $1.1 billion towards Universal Access?see page 5 for details.)

Minister Piccoli then went on to list DEC?s $31 million funding initiatives, including fee relief for disadvantaged families through Connected Communities; a trial of cluster management to help eligible services access expertise with respect to governance and accountability; funding for up to 100 services to reconfigure around a weekly 15-hour delivery pattern; provision of 100 scholarships for educators to upgrade their qualifications from diploma to degree level.

He finished off with: ?An important part of rolling these out will be consultation with the sector ? The work of groups like the Community Child Care Co-operative would be of course critical in this process. You should all be very proud of the work you do.?

Q & A

Then came questions from the audience. Here are a few edited member questions, and the Ministers? answers?

Q. Monique Beange?General Manager, KU Children Services: ?It appears that NSW is not making significant progress towards universal access and one of the main barriers, especially for preschool families, will be affordability. Could you tell us how both of you will work together to ensure NSW children receive

A. Adrian Piccoli: ?Clearly it?s access, it?s places and affordability and we?re not in a position financially to make huge additional investments in early childhood preschool at this stage. We would love to be able to.

?It?s not affordable and if there aren?t physically places there then you can?t achieve it. They are both things that both the Commonwealth and the State have to work together to achieve.?

A. Kate Ellis: ?There?s never been a federal government before that?s funded a cent in preschools and kindergartens ? we put almost a billion dollars on the table, $955 million, for the national partnership. We did that because we want to see services improve. We did that because we wanted to see more people have access. We didn?t do it as a way that we could relieve the burden on state governments and let them invest their money elsewhere.?

Q. Verena Heron, Industrial Officer for the Independent Education Union: ?Minister Piccoli, as you are aware New South Wales early childhood teachers are earning approximately 20 per cent less than their colleagues in DET preschools. We are wondering what your Government is going to do in order to address this problem??

A. Adrian Piccoli: ?The answer to that question will be as a result of negotiations between the state and the Commonwealth ? The disparity is significant because it does cause you know better than I do, but there is a huge need for an injection of funds in order to address that discrepancy and New South Wales on its own is not in a position to be able to do that.?

Q. Tonia Godhard, Community Child Care Life Member: ?We?re moving towards 15 hours, as we?ve discussed as part of universal access, but that will have unintended outcomes in this state?for instance three year olds currently attending preschools will become ineligible. When will your government admit or recognise 15 hours will not work in a state where traditionally we?ve had a six-hour preschool program??

A. Kate Ellis: ?What I think is not okay is for a government to say ?yes, with that amount of funding we?ll accept that from the Commonwealth, we?ll deliver this?, to then turn around and say ?no, three year olds can no longer access preschool?. That was never part of the deal. We put additional money on the table so that we could increase access not decrease access so I do not accept at all that it is a consequence of our Government?s decision making.

?There?s almost a billion dollars of money flowing to the states because they signed a national agreement that they could deliver this, it is up to them to negotiate how they do that after accepting that money.?

Q. Vivi Germanos Koutsanadis? Executive Officer, Ethnic Child Care Family and Community Services Co-operative: ?Mr Piccoli, there is a lot of grave concern in the community about your government?s decision to wipe $1.7 billion from the educational budget ? how will these cuts affect the early childhood sector??

A. Adrian Piccoli: ?There won?t be any impacts on early childhood. Those budget measures, $1.7 billion over four years, to put that in perspective, over that four-year period we will be spending $53 billion.

?Nobody is doing this because they want to do it in education or in health or anywhere else in police, emergency services, but we?re doing it because we?re in pretty tough economic times in Australia and in New South Wales.?

Q. Emily Donnan, Big Steps campaigner: ?Minister Ellis, you?ve said several times $22 billion has been provided to the sector, but there?s one half of the sector that hasn?t been addressed and that is the educators and the very low wages we receive. I want to know, Kate, when will the Federal Government finally address this and reshape the funding model so we receive professional wages and finally address this issue??

A. Kate Ellis: ?I know you want this addressed and you want it addressed now but in every one of these [wages cases] that we?ve addressed there?s been a process that we?ve gone through. With the community service workers it was a process that involved a test case, that involved going through jurisdictions and Fair Work Australia. With the aged care workers it was a process that involved the Productivity Commission actually inquiring into what the appropriate level of pay is. We need to go through a process for early childhood workers too and once we?ve gone through that process then obviously we need to go through the budget process, which itself has its challenges. ?So I can?t give you the answer you want tonight but what I will say is we absolutely recognise the job that you do. We recognise that wages need to be fair across Australia.?

Q. Kim Gavin?Uniting Care Children?s Services: ?NSW spends less money on education and care than the other states. Because of this we have higher preschool fees and less attendance at preschools. What do you intend to do about this to ensure that our children in New South Wales get the same rights and access to preschools as in other states and territories?? A. Adrian Piccoli: ?Other states perform much better than New south Wales does in terms of participation in early childhood and that?s part of the reason.

?We?re not in a [financial] position at this stage to make substantial contributions to changing that table but when we are in a better position I?d certainly expect as the New South Wales Minister for Education to be doing something to make New South Wales certainly competitive wages and finally address this issue??

A. Kate Ellis: ?I know you want this addressed and you want it addressed now but in every one of these [wages cases] that we?ve addressed there?s been a process that we?ve gone through. With the community service workers it was a process that involved a test case, that involved going through jurisdictions and Fair Work Australia. With the aged care workers it was a process that involved the Productivity Commission actually inquiring into what the appropriate level of pay is. We need to go through a process for early childhood workers too and once we?ve gone through that process then obviously we need to go through the budget process, which itself has its challenges.

?So I can?t give you the answer you want tonight but what I will say is we absolutely recognise the job that you do. We recognise that wages need to be fair across Australia.?

Q. Kim Gavin?Uniting Care Children?s Services: ?NSW spends less money on education and care than the other states. Because of this we have higher preschool fees and less attendance at preschools. What do you intend to do about this to ensure that our children in New South Wales get the same rights and access to preschools as in other states and territories??

A. Adrian Piccoli: ?Other states perform much better than New south Wales does in terms of participation in early childhood and that?s part of the reason.

?We?re not in a [financial] position at this stage to make substantial contributions to changing that table but when we are in a better position I?d certainly expect as the New South Wales Minister for Education to be doing something to make New South Wales certainly competitive with the other states.?

Source: http://www.armedia.net.au/kate-ellis-and-adrian-piccoli-discuss-early-childhood-education-and-care

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