The forked tongue of Hanson-Young

Dripping with a grim incongruity, the Government’s ill-timed push of its quality assurance reforms - the National Quality Framework (NQF) - is sparking fee increases around $5 to $20 a day.   

I should note here, the Federal Coalition agrees in setting benchmark industry standards and improving staff qualifications. But we believe this can be achieved in a balanced and consultative manner which will avoid lumbering these dramatic introductory costs onto parents.

Despite this, Childcare Minister Kate Ellis continues to insist the cost of starting up the NQF will be no more a burden to industry or parent than 57 cents a week.

Whatever credibility the Minister may have enjoyed in the early part of her tenure in the job has now completely disappeared, along with the accuracy of the 57c she quotes; Access Economics data over 2 years old.

The Minister knows her numbers are out of date but refuses to acknowledge it.

She also knows, with the NQF approaching, many childcare centres are now planning cuts to child numbers and struggling to find staff suitably qualified within the new rules.

Some estimates put this at a shortfall of 16,000 workers across the industry, an impossible nonsensical training equation to complete which will force some centres to simply close their doors.

But it is the Greens who have really dumped on parents here.

Heavy handed childcare reform, as with the carbon tax, is unrealistic policy hitting the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time.