Indi OSHC services receive welcome news of reprieve thanks to political intervention

Two Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services at risk of closure in the electorate of Indi have received a welcome reprieve after intervention from Independent Federal Member for Indi, Dr Helen Haines.

OSHC Services at Whitfield Primary School and Mt Beauty Primary School have now received approval for special circumstances funding for 12 months, with four more OSHC services in the electorate awaiting news about their emergency applications, including at Moyhu, Greta, Rutherglen and Yackandandah.

“A number of Outside School Hours Care services in Indi were rejected for funding for the next year,including some that have been receiving this support for more than ten years,” Dr Haines said.

“On becoming aware of the issue, I took it to the Minister for Early Childhood Education in person and worked with her office and the services on an interim solution.”

“I am glad that two of the services will remain open and I am hopeful of a good result for all our services affected,” she added.

The lifeline of support has come via the Community Child Care Fund, under which more than 800 services across Australia were found suitable for funding. Despite the eligibility criteria being met, only 475 of the services received funding, which was allocated as part of a competitive grant allocation process.

Dr Haines said she welcomed the government stepping in with a short-term solution to keep the services open but said both the funding available and the administration of the Community Child Care Fund was “having an unfair impact on regional services” and needs to change.

“We have a situation where regional communities are fighting over the same bucket of funds as metro services, a bucket that is too small and which disadvantages regional communities,” Dr Haines said.

“Time and again we see examples of national funding arrangements that don’t provide for the unique experience or needs of regional, rural and remote communities.”

“Many of these services in Indi are based in small communities and support hundreds of families that need before or after-school care in order to work. Not only does it make the logistics of these families’ lives harder, but it also puts the long-term sustainability of these smaller schools, part of the fabric of our small towns, in jeopardy.”

To continue the advocacy Dr Haines indicated that she would meet with the Minister for Early Childhood Education in the next Parliamentary sitting week and would be pushing for changes to the funding model, saying a competitive process did not reflect the essential nature of childcare services.

“Regional communities need funding that reflects their experience and need, and I will be making that case to the Minister in person,” she said.

“It is my firm view that this failing funding model needs to change, because services who meet the criteria should not have to compete for funding.”

Dr Haines work on OSHC funding is part of a larger advocacy piece to improve accessibility of childcare for regional communities.

“Early childhood education and care is foundational to the development of children and a key component of the support that families need,” she said in closing.