by Jesse Wray-McCann
MORE than 100 Mordialloc-Chelsea families are set to become the first victims of looming government childcare cuts.
The scrapping of the Take a Break program has forced Longbeach Place in Chelsea to close its occasional childcare service on September 23, after an impassioned campaign by parents desperate to save the vital funding fell on deaf ears.
Nearby Chelsea Heights Community Centre will end its service on December 16.
Distressed parents have flocked to the area’s only remaining centre, Chelsea Occasional Child Care, but director Lynne Blain warned it was already near capacity and had yet to determine its future.
Longbeach Place manager Lorna Stevenson said it had been an “agonising” decision and slammed both levels of government for “playing political games”.
“The parents and staff are all in disbelief that this has actually happened,” Ms Stevenson said.
Chelsea Heights Community Centre co-ordinator Janene Fussell said the decision to close its service had hit its 70 families hard.
“When you talk to parents about it, you see the tears well up in their eyes,” Ms Fussell said.
The Federal Government withdrew funding to the Take a Break occasional childcare program in May 2010, when the then Labor State Government picked up the tab.
But 12 months later, the new Coalition Government announced it would only continue funding the program until the end of the year.
Carrum state Liberal MP Donna Bauer said it was unsustainable for the State Government to continue to cover the Federal Government’s 70 per cent commitment to the funding.
Isaacs federal Labor MP Mark Dreyfus said while the Victorian Government blamed its federal counterpart, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia continued to support the program.
Taken from Mordialloc Chelsea Leader 5th September 2011
The scrapping of the Take a Break program has forced Longbeach Place in Chelsea to close its occasional childcare service on September 23, after an impassioned campaign by parents desperate to save the vital funding fell on deaf ears.
Nearby Chelsea Heights Community Centre will end its service on December 16.
Distressed parents have flocked to the area’s only remaining centre, Chelsea Occasional Child Care, but director Lynne Blain warned it was already near capacity and had yet to determine its future.
Longbeach Place manager Lorna Stevenson said it had been an “agonising” decision and slammed both levels of government for “playing political games”.
“The parents and staff are all in disbelief that this has actually happened,” Ms Stevenson said.
Chelsea Heights Community Centre co-ordinator Janene Fussell said the decision to close its service had hit its 70 families hard.
“When you talk to parents about it, you see the tears well up in their eyes,” Ms Fussell said.
The Federal Government withdrew funding to the Take a Break occasional childcare program in May 2010, when the then Labor State Government picked up the tab.
But 12 months later, the new Coalition Government announced it would only continue funding the program until the end of the year.
Carrum state Liberal MP Donna Bauer said it was unsustainable for the State Government to continue to cover the Federal Government’s 70 per cent commitment to the funding.
Isaacs federal Labor MP Mark Dreyfus said while the Victorian Government blamed its federal counterpart, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia continued to support the program.
Taken from Mordialloc Chelsea Leader 5th September 2011
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