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Bills Digest no. 177 2006–07
Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Management
System and Other Measures) Bill 2007
This replaced the 8 June 2007 version of this
Digest which contained an error on Page 7.(1)
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Family Assistance Legislation
Amendment (Child Care Management System and Other Measures) Bill
2007
Date introduced: 24 May 2007
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Commencement: Sections
1 to 3 and anything elsewhere not covered by the Table in Clause
2 of the Bill, on the day the Act receives Royal Assent. Schedules
1 and 3 from the day after the Act receives Royal Assent.
Schedule 2 from 1 July 2007.
This Bill presents amendments to various Acts to provide
the legislative support for the proposed new Child Care Management System
(CCMS). Amendments are presented to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance)
Act 1999 (FAA) and to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance)
(Administration) Act 1999 (FAAA). These amendments are necessary
to not only provide the legislative support and basis to run the new CCMS,
but also for the conduct of proposed CCMS pilot scheduled for the second
half of 2007. The new CCMS is proposed to commence from 1 January 2008.
Child Care Benefit (CCB) is government income supplement for families
with a child in child care. The rate of CCB that can be paid for a child
in child care is based on several factors:
- the family’s annual adjusted taxable income,(2)
- whether the child is a school aged child,(3) and
- whether the child is in approved(4) or registered(5)
child care.
Up to $148 per week can be paid for a non-school aged child in ‘approved’
child care for 50 hours per week or $2.96 per hour. Up to $24.85 per
week can be paid for a non-school aged child in ‘registered’ work related
child care or $0.497 per hour.
The rate for a school aged child is 85 per cent of the non-school aged
child rate.
Where adjusted taxable income for the family is less than
$34 310 for the year, the maximum rate of CCB can be paid.(6)
Only up to 24 hours per week CCB can be paid where the parent
does not meet the work test.(7) Where the work test is met,
up to 50 hours per week CCB can be claimed.
Where the child is a school aged child, the rate of CCB
paid is 85 per cent of the CCB rate paid if the child is a non-school
aged child.
Child Care Benefit payment can be claimed in several
ways
Payment of CCB can be claimed in several ways.
CCB can be claimed by way of reduced fees charged by an approved child
care provider. The person claims CCB and the child care provider is then
told by Centrelink how much CCB the person is entitled to and the provider
then reduces the child care fee by that amount. The parent pays the difference
between the amount of CCB provided to the child care provider and the
provider’s child care fee. This difference varies according to the child
care fee the individual child care provider charges.
Providers of approved child care must meet legislative and regulatory
requirements regarding safety standards, staff qualifications, child/staff
ratios, health and safety requirements, and child development, in order
to obtain a licence to operate. State and Territory governments set the
requirements, monitor performance and administer licences.
In the 2005-06 year, some 552,000 families used approved Commonwealth
funded child care services receiving CCB.(8) The vast majority
of these CCB payments would have been made by way of fee reductions to
the claimant’s child care fees rather than claimed as a lump sum at the
end of the year when the tax assessment is submitted.
CCB can be claimed as a lump sum at the end of the year in the parent’s
tax assessment, after the approved child care provider has advised how
much child care was provided during the year. If a parent chooses to
claim CCB as a lump sum payment, they will have to pay the full child
care fees to their child care service during the year. The CCB claim
must be lodged within two years from the end of the income year for which
the parent is claiming the CCB.(9)
CCB can be claimed for registered care by lodging a claim with the Family
Assistance Office (FAO) and providing the claimant’s receipts for expenditure
on registered child care. The claim must be made within 12 months of
the care being provided.
As stated above, most CCB claimants using approved child care claim their
CCB by way of reduced fees from the child care provider on an on-going
basis during the year rather than as a lump sum at the end of the year
when they lodge their tax return. As explained in the Explanatory Memorandum
attached to the Bill, this process of reducing the on-going child care
fee charged to a parent by an approved child care provider requires frequent
and on-going communication between the provider and the FAO.(10)
Most of this information exchange is conducted by mail (letters, disks
and paper form).(11)
In order to allow the charging of a reduced child care fee to the parent,
an approved child care provider is paid in advance by the way of four
lump sum advances of CCB in each year. These periods of advanced payments
in the 2006-07 year are:
- 3 July to 1 October 2006,
- 2 October to 31 December 2006,
- 1 January 2007 to 1 April 2007, and
- 2 April to 1 July 2007.
For each advance period, the approved child care provider is paid an
advanced amount based on the provider’s report to the FAO (statement of
child care usage) for the previous quarter, setting out the usage of child
care for each child in that quarter. This process requires a significant
amount of information exchange between the approved child care provider
and the FAO.
This Bill of 70 pages is accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum of
87 pages. The size of the Bill and the length of the Explanatory Memorandum
provide some indication as to the magnitude of the changes proposed with
the new CCMS. Instead of child care providers communicating with the
FAO and Centrelink by mail, as is currently the case, the CCMS will require
approved child care providers to communicate by a new integrated child
care management computer system and processes – the CCMS. The CCMS will
also provide the basis for the payment of CCB to approved child care providers.
One of the most substantive changes with the CCMS is that it does change
the way CCB is to be paid to approved child care providers. Currently,
approved child care providers receive lump sum advance payments of CCB
paid quarterly to them and they then provide reduced child care fees to
eligible parents. These quarterly lump sum advances will no longer be
made. Rather, CCB will be paid to these child care providers weekly in
arrears for the child care used in their centre by CCB eligible parents
over the past week. This regime of weekly arrears payments will require
far more regular on-going communication between child care providers and
the FAO about child care usage and it is proposed this communication be
done via computer using the CCMS.
There is no flexibility or option provided with the CCMS – if a child
care provider wants to become an approved child care provider and provide
reduced child care fees (reduced by CCB) on an on-going basis to parents,
they will be required to use the CCMS.(12)
The CCMS will require approved child care providers to have the appropriate
software in their computers and for their staff to know how to use the
software to communicate the correct child care information to the FAO.
In short, the CCMS will become the main systemic method of delivering
CCB to families.
This issue of weekly reporting might become a significant issue for some
providers. The lack of appropriately qualified, experience and trained
staff has been reported as an on-going large issue for the child care
industry, in all sectors.(13) The weekly reporting requirements
under CCMS will require staff do a lot of data entry and this will place
an extra burden on the staff resources for all child care providers.
The ‘National Childcare Workforce Study of July 2006’ found.
Overall, there is a projected net shortfall of 7,320
staff by 2013. Long day care has an estimated shortfall of 6,490 staff
by 2013, outside school hours/vacation care are projected to have a
shortfall of 1,011 staff, and occasional care services have a projected
shortfall of 894 staff. Preschool/kindergarten are projected to have
an oversupply of 1,075 staff.(14)
Child care providers will be provided with an Enrolment
Advance payment when they enrol a child for child care and that child
is recognised by the FAO system (that is they have a customer reference
number). Notification of a child enrolment will be via the CCMS. The
Enrolment Advance is recoverable when the child leaves child care.
The Explanatory Memorandum does not detail how much the
Enrolment Advance will be.
The proposed change from quarterly advances of CCB to weekly arrears
payment of CCB via the CCMS does have benefits for government. CCB paid
will more closely and accurately be tied to the actual child care use
by a parent and therefore there should be a reduction of overpayments
of CCB by way of human error or fraud. It will provide more up-to-date
data to government about child care usage and lack of usage, so that government
planning and budgeting for child care needs will be better informed.
This data is important and will allow the government to make more informed
and up-to-date decisions about allocating unused child care places to
areas of need.
Since the passage of the Family Assistance, Social Security and Veterans'
Affairs Legislation Amendment (2005 Budget and Other Measures) Act 2006.(15),
the government now has the flexibility to change or move the placement
of unallocated child care places to areas of greater need.
The major changes for child care providers will be:
- payment of CCB received weekly in arrears rather than quarterly in
advance,
- the need to have a compatible (registered with the FAO) computer system
to communicate with the FAO and Centrelink using the CCMS,
- the need to train and educate staff in the use of the CCMS,
- the need to submit weekly reports to the FAO about child care usage,
- child care providers will no longer be required to calculate the amount
of the fee reduction (the amount of CCB) that individuals will be entitled
to. This is the amount that the provider’s child care fee is reduced
by. The CCB entitlement for individuals will be calculated by the FAO
and advised via the CCMS to the provider. This will be a saving for
providers.
- child care providers will be provided with an Enrolment Advance payment
when they enrol a child for child care and that child is recognised
by the FAO system (that is they have a customer reference number).
Notification of a child enrolment will be via the CCMS. The enrolment
amount is recoverable when the child leaves child care.
The costs to providers will vary between providers depending
on each provider’s current level of computer use and competency and staff
familiarity with computer programs.
The Australian Government supported 588 866 child care places in 2005,
an increase of 4.8 per cent on the number in 2004.(16) The
majority of Australian Government supported child care places were:
- outside school hours care places (44.4 per cent),
- centre-based long day care places (42.0 per cent),
- family day care places (12.8 per cent),
- occasional care places (0.5 per cent), and
- other care places (0.3 per cent).
State and Territory governments supported at least 204 932 pre–school
places in 2005-06.(17)
In 2005-06, over 111 413 children aged 12 years or younger attended State
and Territory government funded and/or provided child care and 788 904
children aged 12 years or younger attended Australian Government approved
child care services. Some children attend both Australian and State/Territory
funded child care and some services receive funding from both Australian
and State/Territory governments.(18) Some information on the
complexion of the child care industry is provided in the Productivity
Commission’s 2007 Report on Government Services.(19)
The child care provider industry is not homogeneous and is very diverse
– see Table 14.1 above. Funding to assist child care providers with the
implementation of the CCMS has been itemised as $18.8 million.(20)
The capacity for individual providers to incur the expense of moving to
the new computer CCMS environment will vary between providers and it is
probable that providers in the not-for-profit sector will have less financial
capacity for this move than private providers. There is no indication
in the Explanatory Memorandum or in the information about CCMS provided
by FaCSIA,(21) about how the allocation of the $18 million
is to be dispersed. Some in the child care industry have recommended
that this financial assistance be targeted to the not-for-profit providers.(22)
In the 2006-07 Budget, the government announced the development of an
improved child care payment and management system, the CCMS.(23)
The Government then said that final funding will be announced in the future,
following consultation with the child care sector, but the Government
did commit in the 2006-07 Budget to provide $50.8 million in funding over
four years.(24)
The Explanatory Memorandum details that the costs of the changes entailed
in the Bill will be $40.4 million in 2006-07, $40.8 million in 2007-08,
$3.7 million in 2008-09 and would also result in a saving of $2.3 million
in 2009-10.(25) This is a net total of $82.6 million.
The expenditure in the first two years arise from the implementation
costs of the new CCMS, part of which is funding to support child care
providers in their transition to the new CCMS processes. As stated above,
the funding to assist child care providers with the implementation of
the CCMS has been itemised as $18.8 million.(26)
It is proposed to fully implement the new CCMS from January 2008 but
to test and refine the system and processes by way of a pilot. The CCMS
pilot will occur in the second half of 2007 before implementation. The
stages of the CCMS implementation are:
- Stage 1 - pilot to selected Long Day Care(27) and Family
Day Care(28) providers, to commence from July 2007. The
pilot will be in two phases; a Simulation Phase where CCMS will be used
by child care services but no live payments will be made; and a Live
Payment Phase, expected to commence from late 2007 where a small group
of child care providers will commence using the CCMS for day-to-day
Child Care Benefit (CCB) processes.
- Stage 2 - On completion of the pilot, CCMS will be implemented to
Long Day Care and Family Day Care. From January 2008, services will
move to CCMS with the final services moving to CCMS by July 2008. Those
services that participate in the pilot will be the first to transition
to the new CCMS.
- Stage 3 - Implementation of the CCMS to the Outside School Hours
Care(29), In-Home Care(30) and Occasional Care(31)
sectors with implementation planned to commence from July 2008.(32)
The FaCSIA CCMS Fact Sheet explains
how the CCMS pilot will work:
Pilot Stage
The pilot will be in two phases; a Simulation Phase commencing
in July 2007, and a Live Payments Phase expected to commence in late 2007.
During the Simulation, FaCSIA will simulate business processes including
training, information and support products, transition processes and helpdesk
support without impacting on the way in which Child Care services, participating
in the Simulation, currently operate.
The Live Payments Phase will commence upon successful completion
of the Simulation Phase and, as the name suggests, will involve using
the CCMS for day-to-day Child Care Benefit processes. This phase will
involve an incremental transition of Child Care Services that have participated
in the Simulation to the CCMS, and will complete the assurance process.
Participation in both phases of the pilot will be based on
nominations from Child Care services.(33)
Items 1 and 2 alter the description of ‘absences’ in the FAA.
Currently, a child is allowed up to 30 days absence in a year from child
care and the parent still be entitled to CCB for those days. The definition
of ‘absences’ in the FAA is to be altered to allow up to 42 days absence
in a year and more than 42 days in prescribed circumstances. Child care
providers still charge fees for absences, so this move to allow CCB payment
for absences from 30 up to 42 days advantages CCB claimants. It will
allow child care providers more flexibility than the current 30 days.
Items 8, 9 and 10 alter the FAAA to empower the Secretary to approve
software for the use of the CCMS and the form and construct of information
a child care provider is required to provide.
Item 11 replaces the current section 48 in the FAAA with a new
section 48 that sets out the fee reduction process, setting out roles
and requirements for child care centres and the FAO. This new section
48 is the core of the new fee reduction process to be implemented by the
new CCMS. Items 12 to 17 amend several notice provisions in the
FAAA, with the main one being item 12, which no longer requires
the child care centre to calculate the amount of the fee reduction, being
the amount of CCB payable to an individual.
Item 18 provides for the calculation of entitlement to CCB by
way of a fee reduction to be made by the FAO.
Items 21 and 22 amend provisions in the FAAA ensuring the amount
of CCB an individual is entitled to is passed on by the child care provider
as a fee reduction.
Item 23 inserts provisions that empower the FAO to require an
approved child care provider to provide information to the FAO about child
care usage by individuals and the form of that information.
Items 33, 34 and 35 provide that amounts of CCB incorrectly paid
by way of a child care fee reduction can be a debt against an individual
and can be recovered from the individual.
Item 36 inserts provisions setting out that an amount provided
to a child care provider and not passed on to the individual who is qualified
for that amount is a debt against the child care provider. Item 39
and 42 to 44 set out how debts against a child care provider can be
recovered. They include two new debt recovery methods: reduction of fee
amounts or of enrolment advances that would otherwise be paid to the provider.
Item 82 inserts new provisions into the FAAA about the enrolment
of a child with a child care provider for child care. The provisions
feature the requirement for the approved child care provider to notify
the FAO when a child registers with the provider for the provision of
child care and the person wishes to claim CCB as a fee reduction. Item
83 inserts provisions setting out obligations for the child care provider
to pass on fee reductions and to charge no more than fees for the same
services had no fee reduction apply.
Item 86 requires the child care provider to issue receipts to
the child care user and the details the receipts are to contain, including
the fee charged and the fee reduction amount, being the CCB amount.
Item 87 sets out the requirement for child care providers to provide
reports to the FAO, including the content and timing of the reports.
Item 90 inserts new provisions into the FAAA setting out the method
of payment of weekly amounts to the child care centre, being weekly remittances
of CCB to be the fee reduction amounts to be passed on to individuals
who are using the provider’s child care services. These provisions cover
the payment of these weekly amounts and the adjustment of amounts upon
any recalculation of CCB payment rate and also enrolment advances.
Items 92 to 99 contain transitional provisions to facilitate the
conversion of an approved child care provider into the new CCMS arrangements.
Not all centres will commence on the same day and not all will commence
from 1 January 2008. Child care centres will come on-line as they acquire
the necessary computer systems to operate inside the CCMS communication
and payments arrangements.
Schedule 2 provides for civil penalties for breaches of family
assistance law. The Explanatory Memorandum states that the capacity to
refer to civil penalties is new in this context but does not say why it
is considered necessary. The Explanatory memorandum does say it will
enhance the range of penalties.(34) Currently, there is access
to criminal penalties for child care providers. It may be that the arrangements
between the government (FAO) and child care providers currently, and also
under the CCMS arrangements, are essentially commercial arrangements involving
commercial enterprises being required to pass on public monies to individuals
by way of child care fee reductions. In this environment the application
of criminal penalties is limited and civil penalties provide more scope
for the non-compliance with family assistance law. However, the Explanatory
Memorandum does not outline or explain this so this is conjecture.(35)
Item 6 presents provisions requiring approved child care providers
to provide information about past child care use and prospective child
care use and empowering the FAO to specify the form, manner and timing
of this information.
Item 7 inserts new provisions into the FAAA to provide for the
pursuit of civil action against a child care provider who has breached
the family assistance law requirements. The provisions empower the courts
(the Federal Court or the Federal Magistrates Court) to determine the
amount of the financial penalty. Provisions in item 7 also refer
to the issuing of infringement notices, time limits on civil action at
four years and the suspension of approval authorisation for a child care
provider if 10 or more infringement notices have been issued in a 12 month
period.
Item 1 refers to the percentage of CCB payable to school aged
and non-school aged children.(36) Where a child is of school
age, they only qualify for 85 per cent of the CCB rate that would be paid,
where the child is a non-school aged child. However, there are different
school start arrangements and terminology in different States.(37)
The amendment presented in item 1 to the FAA will apply an assumption
that every child is a school aged child from the age of 6 and therefore
only 85 per cent of the CCB rate payable, unless the parent advises otherwise.
This is different to the current arrangements, where the non-school rate
is applied after the parent advises the child has commenced school. This
will reduce overpayments that have occurred in the past but will also
probably result in some underpayments.
Item 24 inserts provisions into the FAAA to empower the FAO to
suspend a child care provider’s approval immediately where one of the
prescribed circumstance set out in the provision is met. These circumstances
are where the provider has failed to meet a State or Territory law relating
to the provision of child care; they commonly refer to health and safety
requirements and other building code requirements. Immediate suspension
may also be necessary where the FAO is of the opinion there is an imminent
danger to a child or some other event requiring immediate action. These
circumstances are not set out in the provisions, so it is really an open
cheque book as to what these circumstances might be and is therefore probably
a matter to be described in policy guidelines. To be fair, it is probably
too difficult and too cumbersome to spell out in legislation every circumstance
where it might be considered appropriate to suspend or cancel a provider’s
approval, consequently the provisions appropriately provide broad powers.
This Bill provides the legislative support for the biggest system and
process changes to the delivery of CCB since the payment commenced from
1 July 2000.(38) It could be seen as taking the interface
between government (FAO and Centrelink) and child care providers out of
the dark ages of using mail to modern computer based processes.
The Explanatory Memorandum says in several places that the assessed costs
of some of the proposed changes have been assessed as ‘minimal’.(39)
This is a bit simplistic, especially for some of the cost items for child
care providers. Of course, costs for providers will vary between providers
because their current internal records management systems and processes
are so very diverse. For some providers, the costs will be significant,
for others, the costs will be minimal. It is possible some providers
looking at significant costs may decide to not to venture into the new
world of CCMS and close their operations.
One of the most significant changes for child care providers will be
the funding change from quarterly bulk advances of CCB to remittances
paid weekly in arrears. Some providers may not have the financial reserves
or resources to tolerate such a change, especially during the transition
period, and may also opt not to venture into the new world of CCMS. The
other main change for providers will be the recording of child care use
data on to computer records compatible with the CCMS and the lodging of
weekly reports. For those providers already using computers for child
care records the changes will be less onerous and demanding than for those
owners who only use paper records, more commonly the smaller providers.
In the face of these new requirements, some providers looking at significant
costs may decide to close their operations.
The Explanatory Memorandum does refer to the potential in the future
to consider electronic sign–in and sign–out processes.(40)
This does have the potential to target CCB payments more even closely
to real-time use of child care services and this may provide savings to
government outlays. At present, there is no real rigor to the sign–in
and sign–out time recording, which is conducted between the parent and
the child care provider.
CCB is not a small program. In the 2005-06 year, some 552 000 families
used approved Commonwealth funded child care services and received CCB(41)and
the total expenditure for CCB in the 2005-06 year was $1.519 billion.(42)
Given that the vast majority of CCB is delivered via fee reductions passed
on by child care providers, it is probably long overdue that this be managed
and processed electronically rather than by exchange of information through
the post. However, for many the changes are significant, and the pilot
to be conducted over the second half of 2007 will reveal how significant.
Some providers may find it all too difficult and opt out of child care
provision, especially the small providers.
The figure of $50.8 million referred to on page 7 that
was announced by Minister Mal Brough in the 2006-07 Budget referred to
a government commitment to a more rigorous child care compliance strategy,
not to the cost of the proposed new Child Care Management System.
Endnotes
- The figure of $50.8 million referred to on page 7 that was announced
by Minister Mal Brough in the 2006-07 Budget referred to a government
commitment to a more rigorous child care compliance strategy, not to
the cost of the proposed new Child Care Management System.
- Adjusted taxable income is net taxable income with income from foreign
income, employer provided fringe benefits and net rental property loses
factored back in.
- For CCB purposes, a school child is a child who attends primary or
secondary school or who is on a break from school (for example school
holidays) and will return to primary or secondary school after that
break. A school child includes children who attend the following classes
at primary school:
- kindergarten in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory,
- preparatory in Victoria and Tasmania,
- preparatory or Year 1 in Queensland,
- pre-primary in Western Australia, or reception in South Australia,
or transition in the Northern Territory.
- Approved child care is care provided by a service provider
that participates satisfactorily in the Australian Government funded
quality assurance system and has been approved to receive Child Care
Benefit payments on behalf of eligible families. Most long day care,
family day care, before and after school care, vacation care, some occasional
care and some in-home care providers are approved child care providers.
- Registered care is care for work related purposes that is provided
by grandparents, relatives, friends or nannies who are registered with
the Family Assistance Office. Registered care may also include care
provided by some private preschools, kindergartens, some outside school
hours care services and some occasional care centres.
- Maximum rate of CCB for a non-school aged
child in approved care
If family income is less than $34 310,
a person can get maximum rate CCB for approved care.
| Number
of children in care |
Per
week (for 50 hours of care) |
Per
hour for each child |
| 1 |
$148.00 |
$2.96 |
| 2 |
$309.35 ($154.67 per child) |
$3.09 |
| 3 |
$482.84 ($160.94 per child) |
$3.21 |
Maximum rate for a school
aged child is 85% of the non-school aged child rate.
If family income is more than $34 310, a person
can get a part-rate CCB.
Where family income exceeds an upper income
threshold, only the minimum rate CCB is payable.
| Number
of children in care |
Upper
income threshold |
| 1 |
$98,348 |
| 2 |
$106,629 |
| 3 |
$121,130
(add $20,221 for each extra child in care) |
The minimum rate of CCB for a non-school child
is $0.497 per hour up to 50 hours a week or $24.85. Rates for a school
aged child are 85% of the non-school aged rate.
- The number of hours a person can receive CCB for approved
child care depends on whether they (and their partner) satisfy the CCB
work/training/study test. From 3 July 2006, between 24 and 50 hours
of Child Care Benefit per week for each child in care can be claimed
where the claimant (and partner) have work, or work related commitments,
for at least 15 hours a week or at least 30 hours a fortnight, or have
an exemption to this requirement.
- Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
Annual Report 2005-06, Canberra, Australia, p. 193. http://www.facs.gov.au/annualreport/2006/index.html
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Peter Yeend, Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Extension of
Time Limits) Act 2003, Bills Digest No. 38 2003-04, Parliamentary
Library, Canberra, Australia, 10 October 2003. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2003-04/04bd038.htm#Contact
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Explanatory Memorandum, p. i.
- ibid., p. ii.
- ibid.
- Choice Magazine, Caring for Kids - Choice Survey of child care,
November 2006, pp. 14–15. http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105463&catId=100509&tid=100008&p=1&title=Childcare
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
Community Care Child Care Co-operative NSW, Responses to the Proposed
CCMS, Sydney 15 December 2006, p. 2. http://www.ccccnsw.org.au/index.html
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Community Services Ministers Advisory Council, National Children’s
Services Workforce Study, Melbourne Australia, July
2006, p. 5. http://hnb.dhs.vic.gov.au/children/ccdnav.nsf/childdocs/-F6E555C5D757CA2BCA256E18006497D4-CB1D86EE6722F836CA256E98001F4863-FFDB89DFB9F05F1DCA256F0B000DCE6C?open
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Peter Yeend, Family Assistance, Social Security and Veterans' Affairs
Legislation Amendment (2005 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006, Bills
Digest No. 104 2005-06, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, Australia,
2 March 2006. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2005-06/06bd104.htm
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Australian Government Productivity Commission, Report on Government
Services 2007, Canberra, Australia, 31 January 2007, Part
F Community Services, Chapter 14 Children’s Services, p. 14.6. http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/rogs/2007/communityservices/index.html
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid., p. 14.8.
- Explanatory Memorandum, p. xvi.
- The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
Child Care Management System. http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/childcare/ccms.htm
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Community Care Child Care Co-operative NSW, Responses to the Proposed
CCMS, op. cit. p. 3.
- The Hon. Mal Brough, MP, Minister for Families, Community Services
and Indigenous Affairs, 2006-07 Budget - A More responsive,
quality child care system, Media Release, Canberra, Australia, 9
May 2006. http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/minister3.nsf/content/budget06_responsive_child_care.htm
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- ibid.
- Explanatory Memorandum, Financial impact statement.
- Explanatory Memorandum, p. xvi.
- Long Day Care is a centre-based form of child care providing all day
or part-time care for children of working families and the general community.
Long day care services provide care mostly for children not yet attending
school, but may also provide care for school children before and after
school and during school holidays. Community organisations, local councils,
private operators, employers or non-profit organisations may run these
services.
- Family Day Care services support and coordinate a group of family
day carers who provide child care in their own homes for other people’s
children. The service also assists parents to select an appropriate
family day carer for their child. A family day care service can provide
flexible care, including all-day care, part-time, casual, before and
after school care, and care during school holidays.
- Outside School Hours Care services provide care before and/or after
school and/or during vacation time. These services often operate in
school grounds. They may also be in other locations such as community
centres, halls, neighbourhood houses, recreation centres or other types
of child care services (for example Family Day Care).
- In Home Care services provide a targeted form of child care where
an approved carer provides care in the child’s home. It aims to provide
care for children within the family unit, and is only available for
families who do not have access to an existing child care service, or
where an existing service cannot meet their needs such as parents who
work irregular hours.
- Occasional Care is centre-based child care that supports families
by providing flexible care for children. Families can access occasional
care regularly on a sessional basis, or irregularly. While occasional
care is available to all children, most of the children in care will
not have started school. Community organisations, non-profit organisations
or local councils may run Occasional Care services.
- Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
CCMS Pilot Fact Sheet, p. 1. http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/childcare/ccms.htm
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- ibid.
- Explanatory Memorandum, p. 53.
- ibid.
- For CCB purposes, a school child is a child who attends primary or
secondary school or who is on a break from school (for example school
holidays) and will return to primary or secondary school after that
break. op. cit.
- ibid.
- Lesley Lang, Dale Daniels and Peter Yeend, A New Tax System (Family
Assistance) Bill 1999, Bills Digest No. 175 1998-99, Parliamentary
Library, Canberra, Australia, 10 May 1999. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/1998-99/99bd175.htm#Contact
Accessed on 8 June 2007.
- Explanatory Memorandum, pp. xviii–xix.
- ibid.
- Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
Annual Report 2005-06, op. cit.
- ibid., p. 191.
Peter Yeend
14 June 2007
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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