ACA Queensland President’s Report
ACA President’s Report
Welcome to the 2022 Winter Early Edition. We hope you are all keeping yourselves warm and cozy as we Queenslanders are not so used to this very wet, chilly winter weather!
The outcome of the recent federal election has set a new path for the early learning sector. With Labor securing a majority government, Prime Minister Albanese and his new Cabinet will no doubt be keen to get started on implementing their policies.
We are pleased to announce ACA Qld’s new CEO, Paul Graham. Paul comes to ACA Qld with a wealth of experience in leadership roles across a wide range of industries in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Having owned and operated early learning centres, Paul has experienced first-hand the ongoing issues centres are facing with educator shortages. Paul’s broad business and customer service experience will provide ACA Qld members with a continuing high standard of support. He is passionate about early learning education and is excited to be returning to the sector. Paul officially started with ACA Qld on 27 April 2022. Recently, members will have seen ACA Qld actively engaging in several important discussions and working closely with the Queensland Government, particularly the Department of Education. This resulted in numerous changes and wins for our sector, including the kindergarten funding which will kick in at the start of 2023. It was an honour for me to be invited to the announcement with Minister Grace Grace and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Parliament. After several meetings over the rollout of the kindergarten funding with the state government, we applaud the announcement of an additional 550 LDC services eligible for Kindy Uplift funding. We are waiting for the services to be announced by the government. ACA Qld was also invited to conversations with the Department of Education, which involved the Minister of Education, Minister of Health, Chief Health Officer, Director of Education and Deputy Director of Education over the lack of RAT tests at early education and care services and the essential worker classification. These discussions and pressure from the media, after several interviews with ABC and channel seven, saw various positive changes and more acknowledgement for our sector. These changes included the Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-safe measures plan, and an
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accompanying poster – ‘Children and illness during COVID-19’. We have also been working closely with Guild Insurance on the report of services that have been affected by the unprecedented weather event in March in South East Queensland, with weekly updates provided from Guild. If your centre is experiencing any issues, please let our office know and we will contact Guild on your behalf. What an incredible weekend was had at this year’s 2022 National Conference! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and trust you left feeling inspired by the exciting new learnings and resources demonstrated throughout the conference program. The ACA Qld Committee and team send a big thank you to all involved in making this year’s conference one of the best ones yet. There was an excitable buzz around this year’s conference, seeing everyone once again and meeting up with familiar faces and new delegates. We were often told it was like seeing family again after not seeing them for a very long time which was very heartwarming to hear. The Approved Provider lunch sponsored by Childcare Concepts was once again such a great success and an amazing session for all who attended. We thank our presenters; Lisa McCoy (ACECQA), Jannette Cotterell (Executive Counsel Australia), Paul Mondo (ACA National) and Tania Porter (Department of Education and Training). After consistently receiving such positive feedback from the Approved Provider lunch, ACA Qld is exploring hosting more Approved Provider or Nominated Supervisor lunches. Please let us know if you would be interested in attending. The Gala Dinner sponsored by HESTA was a highlight for me. The costumes again were the standout! We hope you were entertained by the ACA Qld and CAECE team’s Dolly Parton costumes. What a fabulous effort they went to. We trust you all enjoyed this magical weekend
as much as we did. We thank all our wonderful sponsors and exhibitors for being a part of this year’s conference, and we hope to see you all again in 2023. Stay tuned for next year’s conference dates which will be announced shortly. If you are not yet following ACA Qld on social media, now is the time! You can find all up to date information in the early learning sector by following and liking us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. With our new CEO on board, we will be doing a new round of member meetings, hosted by the ACA Qld CEO Paul Graham and committee. Stay tuned for the announcement of when our next round of member meetings will be. Early Childhood Educators Day (Wednesday, 1 September) is fast approaching. As many of you are aware, Early Childhood Educators Day originated in Queensland through ACA Qld and is now celebrated around the nation, with other countries also now joining in. It is a day of celebration and appreciation. Have a look at ways services have celebrated in previous years by liking the Early Childhood Educators Day page on Facebook. It is a day to celebrate all things great about being an Early Childhood Educator.
The former Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development, Amanda Rishworth, has been given the portfolio of Social Services, with Anne Aly appointed as the new Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth. ACA has built a strong working relationship with Minister Rishworth and we believe her work as Shadow Minister has helped create strong recognition of the important role that early childhood education plays in preparing children for success and the need for affordable, high-quality services Australia-wide. We are therefore grateful for her support of our sector over the last five or so years. Our engagement with Minister Aly has commenced well with our first face-to-face meeting set to take place in Melbourne mid-June. ACA’s aim is to create the foundation for an ongoing, positive working relationship.
We will be reiterating that a strong and sustainable early learning sector is critical to the economic health of this nation, as well as the wellbeing of our youngest generation. We look forward to working with the incoming Australian Government in the context of ensuring that every child in Australia has access to high quality, affordable and sustainable early learning services, and therefore the best start in life.
Paul Mondo ACA President
The Labor Government’s pre-election promises included the following action items: • lift the maximum CCS rate to 90 per cent for families with one child in care • maintain a higher CCS subsidy rate for the second and additional children in care • extend the increased subsidy to children attending Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) •
ask the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to design a price regulation mechanism to drive out of pocket costs down
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ask the Productivity Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the sector with the aim of implementing a universal 90 per cent subsidy for all families.
Please note you are always welcome to contact our ACA Qld office on 07 3808 2366 or qld@childcarealliance.org.au.
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develop and implement a whole of government Early Years Strategy to create a new integrated approach to the early years and develop of program of action.
We thank you for your continued support and will continue to work hard and ensure all families receive the #BestStartInLife.
It is in this context that ACA’s top four policy priorities are now to: 1. End the educator shortage crisis. 2. Increase affordability for all families. 3. Protect working families & ECEC services from the ongoing impact of COVID-19. 4. Improve support for the inclusion of all children, regardless of ability.
Majella Fitzsimmons ACA Qld President
5. Work closely with the new government to ensure that the early learning sector is not negatively impacted by any new regulation.
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