Shadow Education Minister Kate Ellis and Member for Chifley Ed Husic have maintained the push against Abbott Government Budget cuts to Family Day Care funding in Western Sydney.
Ms Ellis and Mr Husic visited last month the Jumping Jelly Beans Family Day Care in Mt Druitt to meet with parents and carers concerned about cuts to Family Day Care.
Parents told Ms Ellis and Mr Husic that they are faced with making decisions about sending their children to child care or keeping them at home, with average fee increases of around $35 a week forced on them*.
“Family Day Care services across the country will be forced to increase their fees, and some will struggle to survive, because of the Abbott Government’s cuts,” Ms Ellis said.
“Jumping Jelly Beans is a classic example of a valuable but small Family Day Care service which is faced with an agonising decision about forcing increased fees on families already struggling to meet the costs of daily living,” Mr Husic said.
The Abbott Government’s attacks on Family Day Care will see every service in Western Sydney face a funding cut — according to analysis by Family Day Care Australia.
Before the election, Tony Abbott promised to make child care more affordable, but his budget has cut $157 million from Family Day Care support alone.
Ms Ellis and Mr Husic also conducted a roundtable at Loyola Senior High School in Mt Druitt with Principals and Parents and Citizens Association delegates on the local impact of a record $270 million in Abbott Government funding cuts to Chifley area schools.
“The impacts of these cuts are very real — every student will miss out,” said Ms Ellis.
These cuts are the equivalent to sacking one in seven teachers and will see an average school lose $3.2 million.
“We need to invest properly in our schools to create opportunity and jobs here in Western Sydney,” Ed Husic said.
“Students will miss out on literacy and numeracy programs, music and sport programs, and extra teachers.”
The visit to Loyola Senior High also took in the school’s Trade Training Centre, an example of what many Chifley schools are now being denied because the Abbott Government has scrapped the program.