Orroroo Carrieton Childcare Working Party Update
The Orroroo Carrieton Childcare working party yesterday hosted the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell MP and Rowan Ramsey MP, our local Federal Member for Grey. Both were keen to understand the needs and issues in our Council district. We sincerely thank them for their engagement and willingness to meet our community.
We took the opportunity to discuss the issues with the current childcare model that continues to ‘leave our community behind’. Our working party and local parents attended and provided ‘real life examples’ of the impacts of the deficiencies in current policy, legislation and funding for childcare in rural communities. Our working party offered well researched suggestions in relation to possible legislative changes that could assist small communities like ours to fill the large gaps created by flawed policy and funding models.
We clearly articulated the real impact of the ‘lack of access’ to childcare, and the likely impact on learning outcomes for our children within our community. We look forward to the Coalition providing strong advocacy on our behalf to make meaningful inroads into the childcare desert in the Mid-North of South Australia. Our district is a highly productive area with a vibrant community that contributes so much and receives so little in relation to Childcare and other services. Put simply we pay for a service that we can’t access.
Paul Simpson
CEO
District Council of Orroroo Carrieton
