By Casey Neill
SHORT-TERM childcare for Cardinia parents hangs in the balance, with politicians continuing to handball responsibility for the Take a Break program.
The Federal Opposition has pledged to restore the $12 million slashed from the occasional care program, if elected.
And Children and Early Childhood Development Minister Wendy Lovell said her State Government would then reinstate its contribution.
Last month, she announced that the state’s current contribution for the program would end on 31 December.
Community and neighbourhood houses said without government funding, they would have to increase fees or shut down the occasional care program next year.
The previous State Government stepped in to pay for the whole program in May last year, after its commonwealth counterpart withdrew its co-funding.
Ms Lovell said the program could not continue on state funding alone.
But Federal Child Care Minister Kate Ellis said her government had “massively increased funding to early childhood education and care” to the states and territories in areas it previously had not contributed to.
Ms Ellis said this was part of a plan to “re-balance shared responsibilities between the Commonwealth, State and territory governments”.
“I have publicly called on the Victorian Government to reconsider their decision not to continue funding the Take a Break program beyond the end of this year,” she said.
“I restate that call to step up and invest in these critical early years, just as our Government and State governments all around the nation are doing.”
Take a Break is an affordable program for kids aged up to six years old that gives them a chance to interact socially, and gives their parents a break for study or part time work.
Emerald Community House’s three-day-a-week program is running at capacity.
“This political football game is using our kids as the ball, kicking them back and forth, while their parents and families sit on the sidelines,” she said.
Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres (ANHLC) executive officer Angela Savage said many families using Take a Break occasional care were on low incomes and could not afford increased fees.
“In some towns, there is no other centre-based child care nearby,” she said.
“Some parents may have to quit work to care for children and others will miss out on essential respite.”
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