A Bouquet to Steve Maharey
"Increasing the rate of the childcare subsidy and number of working families eligible to receive the subsidy has been
warmly received by the early childhood sector," says Sue Thorne, CEO of the Early Childhood Council.
Steve Maharey and his advisors from the Ministry of Social Development have recognised that cost is the most significant
barrier for families not currently accessing quality early childhood education and care and have acted to address this.
We have witnessed other poorly advised government attempts to increase participation in early childhood education
recently but this is the first positive move that will effectively address the biggest barrier for low and middle income
families.
"By continuing to make the subsidy available to all eligible families regardless of which type of licensed early
childhood service their child attends, Steve Maharey has acknowledged the importance of letting parents choose the
service that best meets their needs, be it homebased, centre based, privately owned or community owned," says Mrs
Thorne.
The Early Childhood Council applauds this pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach by the Minister of Social Development
and in the interests of children would encourage the Minister of Education to doing the same.
ENDS