Family day care rorts cost our children’s educational future dearly

Many Australian parents choose family daycare for its flexible hours of operation and homelike environment, and so they can keep siblings together. Which is why the rorting of this system by some operators is so concerning: to the Turnbull government, the states and territories, to honest, high-quality family daycare educators and to taxpayers.

We all have a role to play in ensuring the important work family daycare provides is of a high quality, that it supports children and uses taxpayer funding for the right reasons.

During the past three years the Coalition has acted. Some have criticised this action but there is no question it has strengthened the sector and empowered those genuine, high-quality services. But there is clearly more to do.

The facts and figures from public reports through the years have been repeated in the media again this week and call attention to the loopholes and flaws that have existed and that the Coalition has been closing since 2013.

We’ve been closing those loopholes as quickly as we find them but we are partners in this process and it is up to the states and territories to fulfil their responsibilities as the level of government primarily responsible for regulating childcare providers to ensure quality and compliance.

Each dollar that is rorted from the system is a dollar of waste that our budget simply can’t sustain when we are already stretching to find every dollar possible to ensure that children are well prepared for the start of their educational journey.

And it is not acceptable for an operator to withhold key information about significant incidents among educators that may make them unsuitable to look after children.

While all of these things have been expected all along, sadly it now needs to be spelled out in black and white so that an element of our society no longer flouts expectations.