Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 7:27:46 to 7:29:28
Discussion on childcare 'deserts' in regional and disadvantaged communities where commercial operation is unattractive, and the potential role of a new Early Education Commission in managing supply and demand.
Topics: Education, Infrastructure
Speakers: Senator Fatima Payman, Mr. Tony Cook
>> How much time do I have chair? One last >> Okay, wonderful. Just one last question. Um, and this is around, I guess, the uh the disadvantaged communities. Um, we know that the childcare subsidy helps families purchase care, but it obviously doesn't guarantee that a service will exist where a family lives. Um, if a regional town, an outer suburb, or a disadvantaged community needs early childhood education centers, but operating there isn't commercially attractive, who's responsible for making sure that that service exists?
>> So, I don't think there's a responsibility per se, Senator, but if a in terms of the work that we do in the department, but if a service is interested around that and they need some sort of financial support, there is a range of financial support mechanisms in place. triple CF that we talked about earlier, the childcare subsidy itself, um applications through the beef project, if there a new project around that, as the minister indicated, one of the things that we're looking at is a new commission. Uh the potential of that new commission would be to look at supply across the country and provide advice to governments in relation to that. And that's work that we are progressing and ministers will have further conversations around that in the coming weeks.
>> Thank you. Yeah, as long as you know providers aren't only address you know focusing on the money they'll make rather than um ensuring that those childcare deserts that we're seeing around the country they're actually being fully serviced and those families are provided with the essential service that early childhood education care is. Um but yeah that's all for me. Thank you.