Authentically Connecting with Country

ACA Queensland President’s Report

Welcome to the last Early Edition for 2021!

It was great to see so many of our members at our Sector Briefings. These briefings were delivered across the state encompassing Townsville, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Brisbane South, Brisbane North, Brisbane West, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

Our AGM which took place on 18 October 2021 was yet another success. We acknowledge the contribution of two outgoing committee members, Treasurer Doug Burns and Committee Member Rosa McDonald. Both Doug and Rosa have served the organisation well for six years and we would like to thank them both for their support and efforts during their time with us. I would like to welcome Peta Pitcher (CEO, API Childcare Centres) to the committee and congratulate our eight committee members who stood for re-election and were once again all duly elected. I would also like to congratulate Kerrie Lada who was presented with ACA Qld Life Membership in recognition of her outstanding service to ACA Qld over the last 21 years. I once again look forward to being your president for the next 12 months and working together to advocate and care for our Queensland children. Our Supporters’ Evening held on Monday 15 November was another resounding success. It was fantastic to catch up with all our amazing sponsors and thank them for the support we have received during 2021. We are incredibly grateful for our supporter members – and especially our foundation member, The Guild Group – and look forward to our continuing partnerships in 2022. On behalf of members, ACA Qld Vice President Jae Fraser, CEO Kate Tully, and I met with Deputy Director-General Sharon Schimming and Assistant Director-General Deb Dunstone. Together we had positive discussions around key issues facing the early learning sector. We look forward to ongoing dialogue with the Department and welcome any opportunity to engage with all parts of Government to achieve the Best Start in Life for Queensland children. ACA Qld has created a kit to assist members to ensure they are as prepared as possible for the evolving COVID-19 landscape in Queensland. The kit contains lists of recommended measures for various risk levels, some information about what to expect in the event of a service closure, and template letters to families and other stakeholders. The kit is available to download from the Members area of our website, under COVID-19 News. ACA Qld will continue to keep you updated with the latest news and information as these come to hand.

Nationally we have been working closely with Government and heavily advocating for early learning service providers to be able to waive gap fees when their service, or part of the service, has to close due to a COVID-19 case. A further 10 allowable absence days will be available to families nationally through to 30 June 2022, bringing the total number of allowable absences this financial year to 52 days. We’re pleased to see these measures are now in place to help remove financial pressures on impacted families and services. There have been some changes in our office team. After nearly five years, it was with both sadness and excitement that we wished Letitia Berndt, ACA Qld Administration Officer, the very best in her future endeavours. We would like to thank Letitia for all her hard work and dedication to our members and the early learning sector. Letitia’s departure has allowed the opportunity to welcome Michelle Morley as our new Administration Officer. Please join us in welcoming Michelle to our team! You may have also noticed a few new friendly faces in our CAECE admin and training team too. We are very excited to have everyone on board and please make them all feel welcome at our next round of Sector Briefings in the new year or Conference in June 2022! With 2022 just around the corner, now is the time to order any additional copies of the ACA Qld 2022 Diary! To attain this amazing resource please visit the ACA Qld shop located on our website qld.childcarealliance.org.au/shop or contact the office on 07 3808 2366 or qld@childcarealliance.org.au. I would like to thank the amazing ACA Qld office team, CAECE team, and committee for a fantastic year and their ongoing support for the early learning sector. And lastly, I would like to thank you, our valued members and supporter members for your ongoing support, we value everything you do for our little ones, and we hope you all have a safe and enjoyable festive season with friends and family. We look forward to an amazing year in 2022 and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Majella Fitzsimmons ACA Qld President

ACA President’s Report

As we gradually turn the page from spring to summer, it feels like the weather is matching our moods as most of Australia opens up and we move towards Christmas.

Whilst we are hoping that the worst of COVID restrictions are over, our sector is proceeding with caution in the knowledge that from time to time we will all experience positive cases and have to isolate staff and/ or families or temporarily close. We have already witnessed this scenario many times, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, and we know that families struggle to continue paying fees when unable to work due to isolation requirements. It is in this context that ACA has been engaging with Education Minister Alan Tudge on behalf of our members to keep the government informed of the impact of this scenario on early learning services and their families.

Following our advocacy efforts, we are heartened that the Australian Government has agreed to further support our sector by allowing service providers to waive gap fees when their service, or part of the service, has to close because of a COVID case, or if a family has been directed to isolate. This measure will be available to service providers until 30 June 2022.

We understand the option to wave the gap fee under this scenario will help remove financial pressure on families impacted by isolation requirements. Furthermore, an additional 10 allowable absence days will be available to families nationally through to 30 June 2022, bringing the total number of allowable absences this financial year to 52 days. This is good news for families, making any requirements to isolate far less financially precarious. We will continue monitoring the impact of COVID safety measures on our sector and feeding this information back into government. On the industrial relations front, after a long and drawn-out eight-year process, the Fair Work Commission has finally made a decision on wage increases for degree-qualified Early Childhood Teachers.

The legal proceedings known as the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) and the Work Value Case – Independent Ed Union Equal Remuneration Order (ERO), involved the Independent Education Union (IEU) seeking a substantial wage increase for degree-qualified teachers. ACA has been working extremely hard in this space with our legal team on behalf of our members, to strive for an outcome that ensures

the future viability of the sector and affordability for families.

Due to the complexities around the introduction of the wage increases, it’s difficult to estimate the level of wage increases across each early learning service. However, on balance we view this outcome as a win for our sector in terms of ensuring ongoing affordability of childcare for families.

Last month we ran a webinar for all of our members to provide guidance on the “reclassification” process and how to determine the new award rates for your degree-qualified staff. We hope you found this guidance useful and the recording can be found on the ACA National website. Meanwhile, as the federal election is expected to take place at some stage in the New Year, we are in the process of developing our advocacy materials for all sides of the political spectrum, to ensure a positive outcome for our sector in the years ahead. As always, we thank you for your ongoing support and wish you and your families all the best with your end-of-year festivities. I’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate ACA Qld President Majella Fitzsimmons and Vice President Jae Fraser for their efforts and strong leadership of their state body this year. I know you will join me in thanking them for their hard work and dedication to Queensland’s early learning sector during a difficult climate. I’d also like to congratulate Jae for setting up the Fraser Foundation, which aims to provide financial assistance to aspiring early childhood educators seeking to further their tertiary studies in the early learning field. It promises to be a really positive initiative that will help support our sector. On behalf of the ACA Executive Committee, I would like to wish all of our members a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and may 2022 bring us all a little more stability, good health and contentment.

Paul Mondo ACA President