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On 21 November 2007, Early Childhood Australia received a further response to our federal election e-card, this time from the Australian Greens' Senator Bob Brown.
The e-card outlines Early Childhood Australia's five-point Election Agenda:
- Climate change and sustainability
- Indigenous young children and families
- Parenting support
- Investment in early childhood
- Children's rights
We have also received responses from Labor's Jenny Macklin (Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services, and Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation), leader of the Australian Democrats, Lyn Allison, and the leader of the Opposition, Kevin Rudd.
[NB. The Liberal Party has been contacted, but there has been no response, as yet.]
The Australian Greens' response to Early Childhood Australia's election agenda
21 November 2007
'Australian Greens stand up for children - answer to your email'
Dear Friends
Thank you for your email in relation to children in Australia.
The Australian Greens agree with you that children's issues ought to count at this election. It's also important than in amongst the promises, tax cuts and spending sprees, that concern for the welfare of children is upheld after the election and once the parliament resumes.
The Greens have a comprehensive suite of policies that sets out a plan to better care for children now and into the future. These policies are available in full on the Australian Greens website. I have listed below some policy detail in relation to the particular points your email raised.
Climate change and sustainability – creating a safe and secure future for every child
The Greens believe that climate change poses the greatest threat to our world in human history and requires urgent local, national and global action. We have only 10–15 years to work together and address the crisis of climate change and to prevent catastrophe.
Greens' Senator Christine Milne introduced the nation's first climate change bill to the parliament, The Climate change action bill (2006). The Bill was debated in March 2007 but neither the Coalition nor Labor supported the Bill. It was the first attempt in Australia to set legally binding national targets for greenhouse gas emissions: 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 per cent below 1990 by 2050. Some of the provisions of the Bill include:
- Ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
- Set emission targets for 2020 (20 per cent below 1990 levels) and 2050 (80 per cent below 1990) including annual progress reporting and five-year review periods.
- Require large energy users to undertake energy efficiency audits and to implement identified energy savings measures.
- Introduce a national energy savings target to support energy efficiency measures.
- Require a minimum price to be paid for renewable energy.
- Increase the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) so that renewable electricity contributes at least 15 per cent to national demand by 2012 and 25 per cent by 2020.
- Immediately end the logging of old growth forests to maintain existing significant carbon stores.
In April 2007, Christine Milne launched a report, Re-energising Australia, which proposes solutions to the converging challenges of climate change, oil depletion, and the vulnerability of the resource-dependent Australian economy. This report sets out a plan to re-direct Australia on a path to a low carbon economy, as well as more detail on the work of Christine and the Greens in relation to this critical issue.
Indigenous young children and families – delivering culturally safe children's services which build capacity into the future for Indigenous Australians
The Greens recognise that, regardless of whether living in urban or remote communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the most disadvantaged group in our society.
The Greens:
- back the plan to reduce the 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and equality of health and wellbeing within a generation
- support investing resources in both community-controlled health services and mainstream services, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Framework Agreements and Aboriginal Regional Health Plans
- support priority funding for Indigenous children's health.
The Greens have long been working to promote the urgent need to address Aboriginal health and welfare issues. Bob identified the rights of indigenous Australians as a priority for the Greens in his first speech in 1996 and since that time has been a leading voice in the national parliament about indigenous affairs. Bob has led the way on two milestones on two Indigenous affairs in particular – mandatory sentencing of children in the NT and WA, and petrol sniffing in the Central Desert region. By contrast, the Howard government's recent announcement of a state of emergency after eleven years of inaction is a cynical exercise.
We recognise that there are serious issues in some Indigenous communities that require immediate action. What we want to see is an action plan developed in consultation with Indigenous communities and relevant support services, and one that is comprehensive, culturally appropriate, and one that will work over the longer term. It is important to note that the Little children are Sacred report listed consultation with the communities concerned as a primary recommendation. We don't think Howard and Brough's military-style approach is a plan that will succeed in these terms.
The Greens support the approach to these issues put forward by the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT (PDF), and call on the Coalition and the ALP to support the CAO too.
In May 2007, Bob had this to say in his Budget reply speech:
Health experts agree that $500 million per year is required to lift the Aboriginal health standard to that of non Aboriginal Australians. Taking this figure, Tom Calma, the Social Justice Commissioner, has proposed a plan to address the gap in life expectancy within a generation. The Greens back him. It is appalling that rather than $500 million, the 2007/08 Budget allocates only about $30 million per annum to this nationally urgent responsibility.
The Greens are calling for a major change in the way we engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities grounded in a human rights approach to development.
A human rights approach is based on a commitment to international human rights standards and the effective engagement and participation of Indigenous peoples in decisions that affect their lives. It focuses on capacity building and community development, recognising and fostering leadership, and supporting sound Indigenous governance.
Parenting support – a commitment to paid parental leave for all parents and flexible, family-friendly work environments.
In a recently released report, Caring for parents and kids (2007) (PDF) Greens' Senator Rachel Siewert addressed the ways in which the Australian Greens are working to provide increased support for parents and children.
The Greens support a government-funded parental leave scheme with:
- 18 weeks paid leave
- a further 34 weeks unpaid leave (covering the current right of 12 months unpaid leave)
- the option to request a further 12 months unpaid leave.
The Greens support a paid parental leave scheme, which includes giving fathers the right to access paid leave to be the primary carer of their children.
We believe that a paid parental leave scheme makes good economic sense, as well as being good social policy. International comparisons show better health outcomes for children where parents have access to a paid parental leave. Furthermore, a paid parental leave scheme encourages women to maintain attachment to the workforce – which is better for individual employers and the economy as a whole.
Investment in early childhood – a long-term strategy for early childhood services which reflects the evidence about what's necessary to deliver quality outcomes for children
The Australian Greens recognise that early childhood education is a critical component of lifelong learning. Providing adequate funding in early childhood, particularly in the area of education, is also an extremely cost-effective investment in the health and wellbeing and social engagement of young Australians.
Quality early childhood education improves the social and educational outcomes of children, particularly for disadvantaged children. An OECD study last year found that Australia spends the least on preschool funding of any OECD country.
We support improved national standards of child care based on the best available evidence from early childhood research.
We believe that early childhood education should be provided by government and accredited community organisations, not by corporate or for-profit providers.
The Australian Greens believe that governments have a responsibility to develop and implement policies that assist parents to provide a safe and supporting environment for their children.
The Australian Greens will improve the affordability of child care for low and middle income families by making the following changes:
- reforming the Child Care Benefit (CCB) and the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) to more accurately address the ability to pay, including substantially increasing the amount paid to low and middle income families
- replacing the Child Care Tax rebate with a Child Care Benefit Guarantee
- increasing the CCB benefit to more accurately reflect costs
- increasing benefits in relation to under-2-year-olds to reflect the real cost of caring for them
- increasing funding for children with special needs
- increasing the funding available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from other culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- moving towards long-term reform, including direct funding of child care facilities to replace the CCB.
The Australian Greens believe there should a coordinated approach to the increased provision of publicly-funded early childhood education, with particular attention to meeting the demand for early childhood education services for the most disadvantaged children. The Greens support the establishment pre-primary centres in primary schools as one means of addressing these issues.
Children's rights – a commitment to establishing an Office of the Commissioner for Children
The Australian Greens policy on Children and Young People makes a commitment to re-establish a dedicated ministry for children and youth affairs.
The Greens will also re-establish a national youth affairs peak body with elected and representative members.
We believe that children and young people must have greater opportunities to participate in decision making affecting their lives.
Thanks once again for your work to support children and make sure they are a priority within political decision making up to and beyond the federal election.
Senator Bob Brown
The Australian Greens
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