Wide Bay child care centres to be set free from unnecessary red tape
5th December, 2013
Federal Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss, today said that local child care operators are to be relived of unnecessary red tape and regulations, imposed on them by the former Labor Federal Government. “Amending national child care regulations is a priority for the Liberal and National Parties, to help relieve pressure on both parents and the child care sector,” Mr Truss said.
“The Coalition is committed to reducing childcare operating costs. We strongly support high quality child care and early learning, but we need to ensure that this can be delivered in a way that increases affordability and access for families.
“The childcare sector has told us that Labor’s increased red tape and regulations are amongst the main reasons forcing them to raise fees.”
Hourly fees for long day care increased by an average of 44 per cent during the Rudd / Gillard / Rudd Labor Government.
“We will work with the Queensland Government to streamline Labor’s burdensome National Quality Framework (NQF) legislation, to ease the pressure on child care centres,” Mr Truss said.
“The changes that the Coalition plan will improve the rollout of the new National Quality Framework rules and requirements.
“It also complements the Coalition Government’s decision to hold an over-arching Productivity Commission Inquiry into more affordable and flexible childcare options for young families.”
Some of the proposed changes agreed at the recent Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood include:
• Streamlining the ratings assessment process to improve waiting times for operators and reduce backlogs for State and Territory Governments
• Reducing the amount of regulations operators have to comply with — currently there are seven ‘quality areas’ that require compliance with 18 ‘standards’ and 58 ‘elements’ just to receive a quality rating - it’s a bureaucratic nightmare.
• Returning the right for child care operators to appoint experienced staff to supervisor roles without having to apply for government certification or pay fee.
• Improving recognition for staff studying a relevant early childhood degree
• Increasing flexibility for the administration of basic first-aid on school sites.
• Bringing requirements on safety glass back in line with the relevant Australian Standard, instead of the legislation setting a specific height.
