Dear Members,
We are asking your assistance to get at least 50% of your families to sign the enclosed petition (instructions attached) and for you to return all signed petitions in an overnight bag to the address below no later than close of business 24 October 2011.
Please accept this letter, as a request, by your fellow long day childcare Providers and Directors to stand with us – at Queensland and the Australian Childcare Alliance – shoulder-to shoulder, as we seek to ensure your families can continue to have equity of access to affordable high quality long day child care.
ACA-Petition-QLD Petition to centres’ Instructions ACA Petition to parents ACA
We believe in improving quality and we support, in principle, the Federal Government’s (and the Council of Australian Government’s) National Quality Agenda reforms but we must get it right.
With less than 5 months to go, we are becoming more concerned. Due to the uncertainty and haste of the Government to rush through these seismic changes to our sector:
Where we say the fees can be increased by $13-$22 a day, per child (to be paid for by parents), we now stress this is a nationally estimated figure and may vary. Please ensure your parents appreciate this.
WE believe the point to stress is that with their active participation, we may well be able to avoid any parents (now and in the future) bearing the cost of these reforms. It is also important to stress we are not being political or are anti reforms.
Again, it is important to stress that whilst we unquestionably support the Child Care National Quality Agenda reforms in principle, we believe they should not be introduced until the Government – and not our families who are already struggling with the rising cost of living – can afford to pay for them.
These reforms are due to be implemented in less than five months and we believe neither our parents nor the sector, are ready for them or able to afford them.
Thank you for helping to make this campaign a success. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Childcare Queensland office on (07) 3808 2366.
Regards,
Peter Price
President
PO Box 137, Springwood QLD 4127
