 GoodStart for ABC1 Centres GoodStart, a joint venture of Mission Australia, the Benevolent Society, The Brotherhood of St Laurence and Social Ventures Australia has been confirmed as the new purchaser of ABC1 Learning Centres (almost 680 nationally). It is backed by a number of private benefactors, NAB and the Australian Government. GoodStart has indicated it is aiming for continuity for existing managers and staff, with financial surpluses to be reinvested back into programs that improve childcare access and quality. The MAV is cautiously optimistic that this outcome will create a more balanced child care sector, with a greater market share of non-profit providers and reduced pressure on councils to invest further in community-based child care. Since 2005, and particularly since the collapse of ABC Learning in late 2008, the MAV has actively advocated for changes in Commonwealth policy and funding to ensure the growth of not-for -profit child care services. The MAV welcomes the Commonwealth's commitment of around $15 million in medium-term loan funds for the GoodStart venture, which will be Australia's largest childcare provider. A list of the centres is available for purchase. Email Sally Everitt or contact her on 9667 5527. COAG Reform on Health Care COAG has agreed that national health reform will be a central priority of 2010. While Australia's health system is among the world's best, population growth, ageing and increase in chronic disease and disability, plus the cost of technological advances are exacerbating existing system pressures. The recommendations of the recent reform reports were discussed at COAG, and Premiers and Chief Ministers delivered overviews of particular strengths and opportunities for improvement in health care delivery in their jurisdiction. The Prime Minister will correspond with First Ministers by the end of this month recommending a decision-making process on long-term health and hospital reform. In this process, the Commonwealth will actively engage with the states on the range of reform proposals. The Commonwealth's intention if consistent with this process would be to put specific proposals to the states in the first half of 2010. The MAV will ensure that the position of Victorian local government is actively communicated to the Victorian Premier and the Prime Minister's office through the ALGA, and continue to participate in dialogue with both spheres on the reform proposals in 2010.The MAV will hold a forum with councils at the earliest opportunity when specific proposals for Victoria are announced. The MAV's response to the Commonwealth consultation on health and primary care reform has also been submitted to Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon. COAG Reform on Early Childhood COAG agreed to a new National Quality Agenda (NQA) for early childhood education and care and outside school hours care. Key components include better qualified staff, lower staff-to-child ratios, uniform national standards and a new transparent service rating system. Given new regulations for children's services were already introduced in Victoria earlier in 2009, the most significant additional requirements under the NQA are the lowering of staff-to-child ratios to 1:11 for children aged from 36 months to school age by no later than 1 January 2016, and that most services will need to have an early childhood teacher in attendance whenever a service is being provided. Victorian Minister, Maxine Morand has indicated to the MAV that these additional requirements could appropriately be phased in from 2013 to 2015, after the current quality improvements are bedded in and the transition to 15 hours of kindergarten. The MAV has communicated to the Minister and Department of Education and Early Childhood Development the importance of supporting councils and services to implement the early childhood reform agenda in a coordinated and incremental manner, and we will further examine potential impacts with councils early in 2010 for discussion with both State and Federal Ministers. Email Clare Hargreaves or contact her on 9667 5543. Senate Report on Child Care The Australian Senate has released its Standing Committee Report on the provision of Child Care. This Committee met throughout 2009 and MAV participated in the hearing in Melbourne earlier this year. Ten recommendations are made in the Report covering the need for increased funding for child care services; establishment of a national statutory body responsible for child care policy and monitoring child care services and funding; and further research on the impacts of childcare for infants; economic modelling for various funding models in support of higher quality care. The MAV is pleased the report recommends an increase and review of funding for services and substantial increase in the level of funds paid directly to childcare operators in particular areas of need, services operating in rural areas and programs such as the Inclusion Support Subsidy. These were key recommendations in MAV's submission to the Senate Committee (Feb. 2009). The Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education, Child Care and Youth, the Hon. Kate Ellis, MP has backed the Senate report indicating consistency with the proposed National Quality Reforms. Email Sally Everitt or contact her on 9667 5527. Growing, Learning and Thriving Statement The Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development, Maxine Morand, has launched the Growing, Learning and Thriving statement. The Statement outlines the State Government's proposed actions to achieve better access to high quality early childhood services for all Victorian children and to improve outcomes for disadvantaged young Victorians. Highlights include working with the Commonwealth on a plan to improve Australia's early childhood infrastructure; developing a sustainable model for integrated children's services; a new focus on the enhanced MCH Service; developing a new health and wellbeing service framework; and rolling out a new $12 million investment strategy for Victoria's early childhood workforce in support of new state regulatory requirements. Email Sally Everitt or contact her on 9667 5527. Early Years Update Recent activities in the early years area have included significant consultation between the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) specifically about policy and guidelines for all licensed Children's Services on emergency management, particularly on planning for pre-emptive closure of facilities on code red days and responding to bushfires. The MAV also worked with DEECD on informing councils about the planned release of data from the Australian Early Childhood Index (AEDI) - a Federal Government initiative to assist communities to understand how they might better support the development of their young children in the years prior to school. The first set of AEDI data is due for public release, nationally, in mid December. MAV staff participated in a formal review of the State's Blueprint for Early Childhood Development & School Reform, which provided the opportunity to reinforce MAV's strategic objectives for 2010, including recent state council resolutions concerning early years reforms. Email Sally Everitt or contact her on 9667 5527. 15 Hours Kindergarten Program Update All 79 councils are now in the research phase of the municipal planning for 15 hours kindergarten access across their municipalities. Councils have partnered together - sub-regionally and regionally to maximise the planning dollars and gain a strategic view of the capacity of each municipality/region to implement 15 hours kindergarten across kindergartens, long day care centres and early learning centres. The Victorian Government's data sharing process has been welcomed by councils to assist in the development of a comprehensive, sustainable early years planning base for the future. Impacts on municipalities - such as infrastructure, staffing, playgroups and potential displacement of three-year-old kindergartens are being taken up by MAV at a high level. There has been a recent capital funding announcement, and scholarships/incentives for staff. Email Jan Barrett or contact her on 9667 5555. MCH Service Program Standards The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Program Standards were launched by the Minister for Children Maxine Morand at the MCH Conference on 30 October. The Standards will guide and support MCH service delivery and are recommended for use by the MCH workforce and support structures including local government or other governing authority and for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The evidence for the criteria are examples only and not mandatory. Services are encouraged to use the Program Standards to self-assess in order to improve service quality, and to incorporate review of the Program Standards as part of routine service review. Email Alison Nuske or contact her on 9651 3475. MCH Relief Nurse Bank Human Services Directors from councils in the northern region have agreed to support a reference group to investigate options for a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Relief Nurse management system. The reference group will have representation from MAV, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, northern region council managers and MCH co-ordinators. A recent survey of MCH co-ordinators showed relief MCH nurses are in increasingly short supply across the state with inconsistent availability across metropolitan and regional councils. Email Helen Rowe or contact her on 9667 5563. MCH Reference Group A Reference group has been established to monitor the implementation of the Key Ages and Stages revised activities framework. All permanent staff have received training in the revised activities and Maternal and Child Health services have commenced the roll-out of the framework. The reference group will be active for approximately 18 months - two years. Members will consist of MCH nurses and coordinators from both regional and metropolitan, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and MAV staff. Email Anne Colahan Development of Agreements for Local Government Following the MAV State Council in May, it was agreed that the MAV develop a draft protocol for negotiating funding agreements in the human services and public health area under the guidance of the MAV Human Services Advisory Group for consideration by the MAV Management Committee by December 2009. The practice note developed has been endorsed by the Human Services Advisory Group and adopted by the Management Committee at its December meeting. The document is intended to provide guidance for the MAV for consulting councils in the development of agreements with state and/or federal agencies on local government's behalf. The process described is a guide only. The consultation method and sequence of activities should be determined and agreed on a case-by-case basis by governance structures overseeing the development of the agreement. It is intended to be applicable to all policy areas (not only human services and public health). The Human Services Advisory Group also suggested that the practice note be reviewed on a regular basis. A copy will be made available to all councils. Public Libraries Summit The MAV / PLVN Public Libraries Summit held in November was addressed by The Hon. Richard Wynne, the Minister for Local Government; Joanne Duncan, MP (Chair, Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Libraries); and Frank McGuire, pioneer, Hume Global Learning Village. The Summit created a positive environment for the MAV to take up the 'framework for collaboration' on the sustainability and direction for public libraries, in conjunction with the State and the other key stakeholders. All councils / corporations have been advised of the outcomes of the Summit which the MAV will discuss with the Minister and the Ministerial Advisory Council chair. Email Clare Hargreaves or contact her on 9667 5543. HACC National Annual Report Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, recently launched the 2007-08 Home and Community Care Program Annual Report, the first national report published on the performance of the HACC Program. The 2007 HACC Review Agreement between the Commonwealth and states and territories set strategic directions including common arrangements for earlier fund allocation, better planning and improved accountability, plus seven initial key performance indicators. The data for the KPIs comes from the Minimum Data Sets collected in each state, however, there are some variances between states and therefore not all KPI results reported are directly comparable. Performance results show that Victoria had the largest number of HACC clients - 256,204 (56.3% of the HACC target population compared with 47.1% national average) and received the lowest level of HACC growth in 2007/8 (7.12%) because of the national equalisation strategy. Further work is being done to develop a consistent methodology to report on unit costs. Survey of Interfaith/Intercultural Networks The MAV is undertaking a project to develop an overview of current interfaith / intercultural activity at the local government level and support the facilitation and development of interfaith / intercultural networks in regional (rural) local government areas where these do not exist for the purpose of creating greater community harmony, understanding, interaction and cooperation among and between communities of diverse faiths and cultures. The results will be used to develop a register of current networks and activities and will be made available as a resource for officers at local councils. Findings will also be used to inform the development of a resource that will provide tools and advice on the range of ways in which local councils might consider involvement in this type of network in the future. A copy of the survey has been emailed to Human Services Directors and Multicultural Officers. Responses are required by COB Friday 22 January 2010. If you have yet to receive a copy, email Georgia Prattis or contact her on 9315 0902. New Environments for Health Publications New publications to support the use of the Environments for Health framework have been produced to assist councils in a new era of municipal public health planning, implementation and review. They include a policy guide, Public Health and Wellbeing for Victoria, Victoria's health - Prevention is the future, an updated Practical Guide to Municipal Public Health Planning and short supplements covering urban design and physical health, climate change. For further information contact your Regional Public Health Manager in the Department of Health Regional Office. |
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