ACA President’s Report The past few months have seen our hard work engaging with the Department of Education paying off. We’re heartened that following the feedback from ACA as well as from the sector more broadly, the Australian Government is now seeking to address some of the problems identified regarding the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). The Hon. Dan Tehan, Minister for Education, has introduced a new Bill called the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Building on the Child Care Package) Bill 2019, to the Parliament of Australia. The Bill aims to streamline the processes around the delivery of the CCS, with some policy refinements and a number of clarifying and technical amendments. This is a really positive outcome. We believe our engagement with government has been instrumental in getting these issues heard and acted on, and we’re extremely grateful for the ongoing dialogue with our members since the introduction of the CCS. We simply couldn’t have instigated such change without your valuable inputs. ACA has responded formally to the Government’s Inquiry into the new Bill with a formal submission, and we will continue to engage with the government on this important matter, and keep members posted as updates come to hand. We also recently submitted ACA contributions to the Universal Access National Partnership review, the Education Council’s Melbourne Declaration Review and the Inclusion Support Program Review, along with a Mid-year Budget Submission to Treasury.
These submissions reflect ACA’s firm position that all Australian children should have access to high quality affordable early learning services, and families should have the choice of service type that best suits their needs. You can access these online at www.childcarealliance.org.au/ advocacy/submissions. On a more light-hearted note, we hope you and your families made a special effort to acknowledge and thank your team of educators on Early Childhood Educators’ Day. We really enjoyed looking at all the photos that were posted online. On a final note, this is our final edition of Early Edition until the New Year, so I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas/New Year break. I’d like to thank all of our members for their ongoing engagement and support this year, particularly in the lead up to the May federal election. Together we can achieve incredible things! We look forward to working together to create even more positive outcomes for the early learning sector next year!
Paul Mondo National President Australian Childcare Alliance
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2019
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