The Rockliff Liberal Government has called on the Tasmanian Labor Party to explain why they haven't lobbied their Federal counterparts to do more to make childcare, including Out of Hours School Care, more accessible and affordable for Tasmanian families.
Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, said the Tasmanian Liberal Government is providing record funding for early years education and financial assistance for back-to-school costs, but it's time the Australian Government did more to help Tasmanian families.
"The Australian Government has responsibility for childcare funding and accessibility and their investments in these services have not kept up with demand," Minister Jaensch said.
Tasmanian Labor want to sprinkle a small amount of money to 10 locations for Out of School Hours Care but this will not solve the problem. All it does is shift a cost from their Federal colleagues onto Tasmanians, without a sustainable outcome.
"This is not a problem that can be solved with a sprinkling of money, as Tasmanian Labor proposes, but one that needs sustained additional funding to deliver capital upgrades, site purchases, workforce incentives and cost-of-living assistance for families.
"We will continue to work on serious solutions, in line with our commitment to expand access to early years education for those who need it most.
"Importantly, we will negotiate with the Australian Government to get a better deal for Tasmanians, in particular those without access childcare in regional areas.
When it comes to affordable quality education and care, the Tasmanian Liberal Government is focused on the long-term plan and is investing records amounts to ensure access for Tasmanian families including:
- Offering 120 free places for three-year-olds in 19 early childcare services as part of our Working Together program;
- Providing more accessible early education and childcare in 5 trial sites under our Early Learning for Three Year Olds Initiative;
- Providing $28 million for 6 new Child and Family Learning Centres;
- Providing funding for Outside School Hours Care through our Early Child Education and Care grants.
This is in addition to the cost-of-living support we provide to families that provides real help for back-to-school expenses in the form of:
- No Interest Loans to assist with upfront costs for education essentials like school uniforms, textbooks, laptops and computers;
- The Student Assistance Scheme for families on low-incomes which provides assistance towards the cost of levies for students from Kindergarten to Year 12;
- Flexible arrangements for the payment of school levies, including payment plans;
- Financial assistance to help with accommodation costs for students who need to live away from home to complete their schooling;
- The school lunch program, providing nutritious lunches to 30 schools; and
- Our spectacles assistance scheme, which covers the cost of one pair of standard glasses per year for eligible students.
"Tasmanian Labor should be supporting our long-term plan, and instead of proposing nonsense ideas, call on their federal colleagues to provide Tasmania with its fair share of childcare funding".
