The union representing childcare workers says recommendations in Tuesday’s Productivity Commission draft report are not enough to ward off a ''perfect storm'' brewing in ACT childcare.
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United Voice has welcomed some aspects of the report but say others constitute a ''watering down'' of quality and are disappointed the report does not address the low wages they say need to rise to improve the sector.
Former childcare room leader in Canberra Kasie Hunter, 25, has since moved to Queensland to retrain as a high school teacher. She says childcare wages prevented her from being financially independent, forcing her to leave.
''I don't want to stay in the industry because I was faced with the fact you're only going to make $43,000 for the rest of your life. I'd had enough,'' Ms Hunter said.
Staff who have a diploma, needed under the present system to be in charge of a room of children, currently earn about $23.83 an hour, with support workers earning as low as $17.25 an hour on award wages.
Lyndal Ryan, the ACT United Voice secretary, said the report recognised workers were underpaid but did not make specific suggestions for change, which was a ''concern''.
Senior lecturer at Sydney University Elizabeth Hill, who was consulted on the draft report, said she agreed. ''The wages issue has been a longstanding issue, so it is disappointing that the draft report hasn’t addressed that,'' Dr Hill said.
Both Ms Ryan and Dr Hill were pleased by the commission’s embrace of the National Quality Framework for early education, established in the ACT in 2011, but worried about modifications to the framework recommended in the report.
Both mentioned concerns over the reported suggestion of allowing anyone with a Certificate III to receive government payments for looking after children under three, as well as changes to diploma-qualified staff ratios flagged, which they saw as a ''watering down'' of quality.
Ms Ryan said the childcare shortage in the territory was ''particularly acute''.
''We have the perfect storm in the ACT. We have high demand with a high proportion of both parents working, lower unemployment, so people have other options they might not have otherwise, and our centres seek a high standard of care,'' Ms Ryan said.
The commission also said funds from the federal government's paid parental leave scheme should be diverted to childcare.
Ms Ryan said while the government faces an ''uphill battle'' in selling what she saw as an ''expensive'' policy, the union believed childcare should receive more funding independent of the scheme.
At present the rebate covers 50 per cent of fees up to an annual cap of $7500. The commission is proposing to scrap the complex rebate system and replace it with a single payment direct to centres that meets a percentage of their costs.
