More child care places made available

More than 2,400 Outside School Hours Care places would shortly be made available to services in Victoria and New South Wales Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Larry Anthony, announced today.

“The allocation of places includes more than 1,600 places in Victoria, including more than 600 Vacation Care places and 892 places in New South Wales.

“The allocation of these places is in addition to the 1,600 Vacation Care places that were reallocated in September this year.

“The redistribution has been made possible through Coalition Government’s places management strategy. Outside School Hours Care services are being approached to give up unused places so they can be reallocated to other services that have requested extra places, and have the capacity to provide care for more children. Other states will also have places to reallocate by the start of the next school year.

“I also note that except for the ACT, no State or Territory regulates Outside School Hours Care. I am pleased that Queensland and Western Australia have indicated they will move in this direction soon.

“However, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory continue to shirk their responsibility to ensure children using this form of child care are safe.

“Outside School Hours Care has grown a massive 221 per cent since 1996 from 72,000 places to more than 230,000 places currently.

“We will continue to keep a close eye on where these child care places can be best utilised. The Government is committed to making sure that child care places are allocated in areas of highest need,” Mr Anthony said.

For more information about child care, families can call the Commonwealth Government’s national Child Care Access Hotline on 1800 670 305.