Government intent on deepening disadvantage for Indigenous kids

Successive federal governments have a shameful record of putting Australia’s first peoples last. The Abbott government’s proposed changes to child care funding are no exception. Its Child Care Assistance Package will drastically limit Indigenous kids’ access to early childhood education.

Confirmed by every imaginable study and statistic, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids begin life at a profound disadvantage. Due to inadequate existing funding, there is already a shortage of 15,000 child care and early childhood education places available to Aboriginal children.

The proposed changes will introduce a job “activity test” for parents accessing childcare rebates. The plan is to slash access to subsidies from 24 hours per week to 12 hours for those not meeting workforce participation requirements. Further prescriptive requirements and administrative barriers will force out the most vulnerable families.

The government’s own Closing the Gap report confirms that targets for access to early childhood education were “not met” in the last year.

Sharron Williams, chairperson of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, says: “We want to send a clear message to minister Morrison that excluding vulnerable families from child care won’t get them into work – it will put them under more strain and make it harder for them to address the barriers to finding and keeping jobs”.

As much as our rulers like to blame Aboriginal people for their own disadvantage, research shows that Indigenous children who have attended early learning programs are more socially and developmentally ready for school and more likely to achieve positive educational outcomes. These “reforms” are a money grab which neatly demonise the unemployed while stripping funds from basic services.