Investment in the childcare sector is needed to ensure as many Australian children as possible get the best start in life, the Australian Greens said today.

“The government needs to do more to ensure that we have quality childcare across Australia, rather than listen to Tony Abbott who thinks that high quality care for our children is just a burden on the sector,” the Greens childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

A Greens survey of over 230 childcare centres across Australia has found that fees and waiting lists are continuing to grow while the number of available places is shrinking.

The Greens have announced a Treasury costed scheme today that would help to attract hundreds of teachers into childcare centres around the country, while also encouraging them to stay in the industry.

The scheme would see a year of HELP debt waived for every year that tertiary educated teachers remain in the long day care sector (more information on the scheme is included in the media briefing attached).

The Greens have called on the government to clarify their position on child care, after it sought to distance itself from reports yesterday which claimed Julia Gillard was set to commit $1.4 billion to raising the wages of the industry’s underpaid workers.

“We live in a country where child care professionals get paid less than the people who clean the centres in which they work,” Greens child care spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

The Greens welcomed the review announced today by the Early Childcare and Education Minister but stressed the need for funding reforms across the sector that will improve flexibility and quality of care for all families.

"We know that the best way to reform the child care sector is to directly fund centres and boost spending so child care workers are paid wages that reflect their important contribution to children's early life" said Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Child Care and Early Education today.

Greens research showing that over 90% of not-for-profit child care centres in the Melbourne electorate have no room for children under 3 years is a clear indication that the federal government should look at directly funding child care centres, the Australian Greens said today.

Senator Hanson-Young today visited a community child care coop in Flemington, Melbourne, where she heard first-hand about the importance of direct funding of services and the need for a permanent capital grants fund to be made available to centres to expand their capacity and increase vacancies.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has today been chosen as the Australian Greens' lead candidate for the South Australian in the 2013 election and will continue being a strong, progressive, local voice in the fight against the Abbott Coalition.

"I am humbled and honoured that my fellow Greens members have selected me as their lead candidate here today in Adelaide," Sen. Hanson-Young said.

So far it has been a busy year for the Australian Greens. We have seen the transition from the inspiring leadership of Bob Brown to inspirational Christine Milne, negotiated 165 million for dental health, and had a Senate Inquiry into my Marriage Equality (amendment) Bill 2010 strongly recommended that the legislation be passed into law, to name a few. To find out more and to catch up on what I have been up to this year in the Australian Senate, click on the attachment below.

In the wake of today’s High Court decision overturning John Howard and Julia Gillard’s school chaplaincy program, the Greens are offering to work with the government to ensure the remainder of the $222 million is spent to the benefit of students in employing properly qualified counsellors and student support officers.