Interview with Laura Jayes - Sky News AM Agenda
Subjects: New vaccination rules for child care staff; child care fees during lockdown.
LAURA JAYES:
Well, child care staff who live or work in the 12 hotspot local government areas in Sydney will have to be vaccinated by the 30th of August to go to work. This, under new rules, to address that rising fear of transmission in day care centres. Child care providers are seeking clearer rules and guidance on who can attend as parents are urged to keep their children at home if they can.
Joining me live now is the Minister for Education and Youth, Alan Tudge. Minister Tudge, thanks so much for your time. It’s a bit of a minefield for parents at the moment. There’s lots of fear and anxiety about how they go to work, how they work from home, and if they should send their children to day care. First of all, does the Federal Government support mandatory vaccination for child care workers, even outside of those LGAs?
ALAN TUDGE:
Laura, those decisions are obviously made by the respective state and territory jurisdictions. Our view is that we want to see schools open and child care centres open unless you have to close as an absolute last resort. Now, both Victoria and New South Wales have now said ‘don't send your child to child care unless you're an essential worker and that you have to in order to do that essential work’. Now, that's their decision. And we will, of course, continue to provide support to those individual families, to those individual businesses and equally to the staff if their hours are reduced.
LAURA JAYES:
Do you have a read on how many child care workers are unvaccinated?
ALAN TUDGE:
No, I don't know that figure. I mean, I would hope that all of those child care workers would go and get vaccinated. You know, ring up, go and speak to your GP today.
LAURA JAYES:
Sure, but the problem here to now has been, hasn't it, that many of them would be under 40 and weren't eligible for a long time?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, people have been eligible, of course, for AstraZeneca for a very long time. And we've been encouraging people to go and speak to their GP, get the advice of the GP and then choose to get AstraZeneca, if that's the choice they make. Now, Pfizer, of course, is available for people above the age of 30 at the moment. And by the end of this week, will be available to all people above the age of 16. So, my advice is go and get vaccinated as quickly as possible.
LAURA JAYES:
Well, last year's lockdown, we saw that all child care fees were waived. You weren't the minister at the time, but this lockdown is longer. It looks like it's going to be a lot worse. But you've chosen not to do that this time. Why?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, no, we have waived child care fees in New South Wales and in Victoria. That automatically kicks in if there is a directive not to send your child to the child care centre. And that means in practice…
LAURA JAYES:
Right, hang on, are you just talking about the gap fee?
ALAN TUDGE:
Yes, that’s the gap fee waiver. So that's the out of pocket expenses which a family pays. That's what they know that they have to pay. And it effectively means that they don't pay the fee. But our child care subsidy continues to go to the child care provider, irrespective of the fact that the child is not attending. So that's good for the family, they're not paying the fees. And it's good for the provider because it provides them that financial support even though they don't have children attending.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay, but that's still different to last year because essentially all child care was free. Why have you taken this decision this time around? What's changed?
ALAN TUDGE:
You're talking about a particular point in time in Victoria, and there's been evolutions of the different types of support since then in different jurisdictions. Now, we've got a particular model at the moment. We're continuing to look at that model and I'm taking a look at that, particularly in light of both Victoria and New South Wales having issued directives now to not send your child to school. So, that's an ongoing conversation that I'm having with the sector and with the state and territory jurisdictions.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay, so are you flagging there that it could change? Because, as you know, some parents are in an impossible situation. Even if they're not emergency workers, they're having to work from home. They're nine weeks in. They might have young children at home. You know how difficult that can be.
ALAN TUDGE:
Almost impossible for the parents. I mean, I've got a five-year-old boy and he's in prep, but effectively, it's a full time job to ensure that he is learning throughout the day, let alone the person who is; you know his mother is looking after him. So I feel absolutely for parents of young kids where they can't get their child into child care because it becomes very difficult then to be able to do your job if you're required to continue to do your job during the day.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah. Look, just one last question on this. COVID has perhaps exposed some inequities in the system as well. Some private child care centres, for example, charge for public holidays when they're not open, and on days that your child might be sick, well, there's no leeway there. You still have to pay for those days. Is this something that you think should be looked at?
ALAN TUDGE:
Obviously, different child care providers do different things at times, and they should be transparent and parents should take care in terms of choosing their child care provider, understanding their rules. Of course, there are some common rules across the board as well as to when our subsidies kick in. And we want to see greater transparency. And to that end, we’re actually developing a new website where it's consolidating all of its information so it'll be easier for parents to make that choice in the future. But ultimately, it is about parental choice.
LAURA JAYES:
You are the Minister for Youth at the moment as well, which goes just beyond child care aged children. And we’ve seen lots of anecdotal evidence about how children, teenagers are really struggling through this lockdown. And now you have a situation where some Premiers, Alan Tudge, are saying even when we are 80 per cent fully vaccinated, that is not enough to live with COVID. If Premiers keep their state borders shut and they don’t adhere to that Doherty plan, what will it do to these young people, do you think?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, I am very concerned about the impact on young people. And it’s not just anecdotal, Laura. There’s concrete evidence now about the increases in calls to Lifeline, to Kids Lifeline, to Headspace centres. There’s almost been a doubling of calls to the Butterfly Foundation which deals with eating disorders, which is a terrible disease. So, the evidence is hard and it’s fast and it’s in, that it’s having a very significant, negative impact on kids’ mental health, of which we are all concerned about. Now, if those Premiers, once we get to 70 or 80 per cent figure, they’ll have to justify their decisions to their populations. They signed up to this national plan, and I think there’ll be a very high expectation from the public that they deliver upon what they signed up to. So, it’ll be up to them to explain the decisions if they choose not to adhere to it.
LAURA JAYES:
Are you suggesting that the electorate might react strongly? There might be a backlash? But why should we have to wait to the next election in these states?
ALAN TUDGE:
I’m just hoping that those jurisdictions adhere to what they signed up to. That was a national plan agreed by all of the state and territory leaders, along with the Prime Minister. And it’s an important one because it gives the public confidence and hope that we can live with COVID, that we open up our society and our economy, and people are absolutely looking forward to that. And so, I’m hoping and I think that the public are absolutely expecting, Laura, that those premiers will deliver upon what they agreed to.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah, I think they are. I think you’re right. Alan Tudge, thanks so much for your time.
ALAN TUDGE:
Thanks very much Laura.