{"id":32018,"date":"2020-05-07T00:26:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=32018"},"modified":"2020-05-07T00:26:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:26:54","slug":"coker-wants-childcare-sector-to-speak-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/coker-wants-childcare-sector-to-speak-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Coker wants childcare sector to speak up"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORANGAMITE Labor federal member Libby Coker will hold a virtual town hall meeting later this month to learn more about how the childcare sector is handling not only the coronavirus pandemic but also the funding model introduced in response by the Coalition government.
\nLast month, the Coalition announced it would spend $1.6 billion over the next six months to pay 50 per cent of the revenue of child care centres up to the existing hourly rate cap, but only if centres remained open and did not charge families for care.
\n\u201cWe will be ensuring for those parents who are still in that position where they are needing that child care, it will be free,\u201d Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the time.
\nHowever, some centres are struggling to adjust to the drop in revenue, and some parents have been unable to find places for their children.
\nArmstrong Creek East Children\u2019s Centre co-ordinator Shayne Cronin said her facility had 120 families before the coronavirus pandemic began, but this dropped to 65 families in the space of a week.
\n\u201cThat meant about 16 educators that didn\u2019t have shifts. That was the panic phase, everyone was up in arms and didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d
\nMs Cronin said the Coalition\u2019s initial message of \u201cfree childcare\u201d was confusing, as it increased demand but childcare centres still had to bear the cost.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had to cap our numbers, so down the track I\u2019m going to have to say no to families, which I\u2019m going to find impossible because I know we have vacancies.\u201d
\nShadow Minister for Early Childhood Education Rishworth said examples were emerging where, as a result of the changes, early learning providers were having to reduce staff, cut opening hours, deny care to new families or cancel existing enrolments to remain financially viable.
\n\u201cThe government\u2019s changes restrict providers to 50 per cent of their revenue as of the beginning of March and, if eligible, Jobkeeper payments. There is also a top up fund, but this is only available in very limited circumstances. As a result, many providers no longer have the financial capacity to take new enrolments or allow parents to increase their hours.\u201d
\nMs Coker said her office had heard several examples of parents being denied places, in some cases even where another child already attended the same centre and the place had been confirmed in March. She and Ms Rusworth also spoke with local childcare providers via Zoom on April 29.
\nTo register for the virtual town hall on May 22 at 2pm, head to libbycoker.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CORANGAMITE Labor federal member Libby Coker will hold a virtual town hall meeting later this month to learn more about how the childcare sector is handling not only the coronavirus pandemic but also the funding model introduced in response by the Coalition government. Last month, the Coalition announced it would spend $1.6 billion over the […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":32019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-32018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoker wants childcare sector to speak up - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/coker-wants-childcare-sector-to-speak-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coker wants childcare sector to speak up - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CORANGAMITE Labor federal member Libby Coker will hold a virtual town hall meeting later this month to learn more about how the childcare sector is handling not only the coronavirus pandemic but also the funding model introduced in response by the Coalition government. 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