WED 24 SEP 2014
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PROUDLY INDEPENDENT P
Trades & Services Tra Need help at your place this weekend? p.14
Families hit hard Parents forced to bear the brunt of Government’s changes to childcare
Missy Higgins
The songstress of Oz returns to Newcastle
Maitland Gaol maintenance backlog p.4
Goannas defeated West Leagues take out the premiership p.17
MELISSAH COMBER
@melcomber
A
lmost 500 families across Maitland, Cessnock, Singleton and Newcastle will pay at least $34.50 per week extra for family day care services under changes to the Federal Government’s Community Support Programme. The changes will see the eligibility criteria for the programme, which provides funding to child care providers, tightened, with the aim to rein in the number of metropolitan services while increasing rural and remote services. The measures are expected to save the government $157.1 million over three years from 2015-16, $330,000 of which will come from the Five Star Family Day Care Maitland, who provide administration and support services for 108 educators across the Hunter region. The changes are due to come into effect next year, after which the Metford-based service will be forced to pass on the burden of the cuts to the families of the 559 children their educators provide care for. Centre manager, Patty Sams said that the area’s classification by the Australian Bureau Statistics as a major city and the fact that they are not the only provider in the area makes them ineligible. “The problem we’re having is that they’re not withdrawing our funding, so we can’t fight that way,” Ms Sams said. “The bucket of money is still there, they’re just changing the way people qualify for it.
Five Star Family Day Care Maitland’s Jenelle Ycas and Patty Sams, with Addison Woodward and Hunter MP, Joel Fitzgibbon “I think we’re seen as a valuable service, I don’t doubt that, but I do see that they have got no idea what it takes to maintain the quality of that service and we’re not prepared to lose that quality.” Assistant manager, Jenelle Ycas said that their service relied on income from both parents and the Community Support Programme.
“[The changes will] restrict the way we can earn income,” she said. “Families will have to pay more or give up work.” Ms Sams and Ms Ycas met with the Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon, last week, who said he would speak to the Shadow Education Minister about the changes.
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