No care here

By Lia Bichel
CHILDCARE services in the City of Casey are at risk of closing and staff may lose their jobs due to budget cuts effective next year.
Managers of community centres in Berwick, Cranbourne and Hampton Park say they will lose thousands of dollars when the Take a Break Occasional Child Care program is scrapped at the end of the year.
The Federal Government withdrew its funding for the Take a Break program in May last year, but the Labor State Government stepped in and funded the program until June 30 this year.
The Baillieu Government continued funding until the end of December.
Merinda Park Community Centre manager Jan Gilchrist said as of January 2012, the centre would lose about $17,000 a year and might not be able to afford to keep the service running or keep some members of staff employed.
Ms Gilchrist said if the service did not close, parents could be hit with significant fee increases.
“I am most concerned for the families and the 100 children that use our centre,” she said.
“We will either have to double our childcare fees or shut the service down altogether.”
Hampton Park Community Centre House manager Sue Murphy said her centre would lose $15,000 per year.
Berwick Neighbourhood Centre manager Michelle Coburn said that her centre would lose more than $23,000 per year if there was no financial support from state or federal funding, which would affect about 280 families who used the service as well as some of the staff.
“We have made cuts in other areas already, such as stationery orders and staff supplies, but if the funding is scrapped than fees will increase by a larger percentage than normal, and there will be staff cuts,” she said.
“(The staff) is very anxious because we are unsure what is going to happen. We are hopeful the State Government has a change of mind, but that is highly unlikely.”
Narre Warren South MP Judith Graley said the decision to scrap the funding was “appalling.”
“Our local occasional childcare providers are so valued by our local families,” she said.
But Gembrook MP Brad Battin said that with the recent changes in government, the Coalition State Government had to face many budget challenges, “including Labor cost blowouts running in to the billions and the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw $4.1 billion from state revenue,” Mr Battin said.
“The program was funded at various government levels, and the previous government had not allocated any money to this program post June 2011 in the forward estimates.”
While Ms Coburn said she hoped the State Government would help fund the program, Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development Wendy Lovell said the funding was the Federal Government’s responsibility.
“The Victorian Government cannot be expected to fund areas of Federal Government responsibility such as childcare. I wrote to Federal Childcare Minister Kate Ellis earlier this year, asking the Gillard Government to reinstate funding for the program,” Ms Lovell said.
“In the meantime the department will work with the sector to establish what alternatives are available. I would encourage the community and sector to join the Coalition Government in lobbying the Federal Government to fund what is an area of federal responsibility.”