Bennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Bennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:7912] 
PAULA BENNETT (National) 
: 
 I wish to pick up on a point made by the Minister Steve Maharey in the financial review today about the 20 free hours of early childhood education hoax that has been promised to parents and that will clearly not be delivered. I would like to pick up on something that may be of interest to Mr Donnelly. I was looking at the statistics. Quite simply for the area north of Auckland 77 teacher-led services may or may not opt into the 20 free hours policy. There are 94 non - teacher-led services that will not even have the option of opting in or out. I ask Mr Donnelly and I ask the Minister in particular through the financial review about those parents and children. There are simply not enough spaces when 94 centres are not teacher-led. That is just simple maths—it is simple. But the Minister says to the parents that it is simple and that they just rock up to the centre and say they are there for their 20 free hours for their 3 and 4-year-olds. As soon as Mr Maharey said that “ping” went my email. A parent who lived in central Wellington turned round and asked how simple it was for her when there were waiting lists going out of the door and when she enrolled her children she could not even get them into a centre before they were 3 years and 10 months anyway let alone for the 20 hours’ free childhood education. 
I was quite encouraged to hear that the Minister himself said he would go out and talk to and listen to centres. I thought I would help him along a little bit with that and share some of the correspondence I have received in the last couple of weeks that will quite clearly point out that this is not a case of National Party rhetoric; this is the simple reality for centres and as a consequence for parents who are hoping against hope that the Minister will be able to live up to his promise. 
One of the emails states: “I am writing from my personal experience as a kindergarten teacher who has had close to 20 years’ experience and how the 20 hours free will change kindergartens. Helen Clark has now really thrown the spanner in the works. Many trained kindergarten teachers are leaving the service disgruntled and unhappy about the whole future plans that may lie ahead in the future. The 20 hours free has left teachers and disillusioned parents angry disappointed and hey has anyone really thought about the children?”. 
Another email states: “I am writing to express my concern regarding the implementation of the 20 free hours childcare scheme. I am a full-time working mother in a demanding profession. It is fair to say that I am a swinging voter and that my decision to vote for Labour in the last election was based on the promise of 20 free hours. Both of my children have attended day care. … We were disappointed to learn from our childcare provider that they were unable to commit to participation in the Government scheme. This is due to the level of subsidy being proposed not being sufficient to maintain their current level of service which includes such aspects as hot lunches computer education and at the end of the day quality education for them.” 
Then we skip to an email from another centre: “As you will know staffing is a huge concern for us because of the shortage of qualified teachers and the increasing demand. Due to Labour’s strategic plan new graduates are asking for and receiving higher wages than those that have been in ECE for up to 30 years. Pay parity is a joke. Wages have gone way beyond the equivalent in primary and secondary and it is simply not sustainable.” 
Another email reads: “Dear Mr Maharey can you please explain to me how our centres can offer 20 free hours to our families when based on our current rate of funding we will be eligible for $4.47 per hour from the Government? We are currently charging our families $6. Who will make up the shortfall? Because the Government has in effect taken $1.53 off our hourly fee rate. What we are most concerned about is the quality of care that we actually deliver. I am deeply disappointed that the Government has yet again misled the families in this country who they profess to be advocating for.” 
There is just another one for the Minister because I know he is out there willing to listen to the centres and the playcentre sector: “We have grave concerns for under-fives as a result of the above policy. Children are unable to even begin to attend kindy until 3 years 10 months because of waiting lists already. How are they going to go under 20 free hours?”. Another letter we have received states: “At our present fees rate of $4.95 per hour and 100 percent registered teacher funding—”