12. PAULA BENNETT (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
When will the new regulations making up the early childhood education regulatory system be released?
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) Link to this
It is my intention to announce the new criteria for all early childhood education services, including limited attendance services, in July, and for the criteria to come into force in December this year.
Why is the Minister setting rules for gym creches, or “limited attendance centres” as he calls them, that mean that mothers can put their children in them only for up to 2 hours a day and 6 hours a week, which will effectively limit the amount of exercise that a mum can do?
I am putting those rules in place, and the Government is putting those rules in place, because we want kids to be safe. The member surely must know that any young child who is being supervised by an adult needs to be in a safe situation, especially where heavy equipment is nearby and where water is nearby, in the case of a pool. Does the member not believe in the safety of children?
But why is it 6 hours a week, when by the time a parent gets to the centre, drops his or her child off, gets changed, does an hour’s exercise, has a shower, and gets changed again, that is effectively about 2 hours; why is the Minister saying that parents can go only three times a week and making unnecessary red tape for parents, who know what is best for their children?
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I could not hear the end of that question. I think the member referred to being last in the gym, and I wanted to hear that intensely, but I did not hear it because there was too much noise going on in the back here.
Madam SPEAKERI am not sure how familiar the member is with gyms, but I am a very regular gym-goer myself, and I think that it very unusual for people to do more than 6 hours a week in the gym.
Louisa WallKia ora, Madam Speaker. Tēnā koutou katoa. How many early childhood education centres in gyms and fitness facilities have met the current requirements and become licensed?
The member Paula Bennett, who asked the original question, has made all sorts of hysterical claims in the media about early childhood education regulations, and then she accused me of trying to close down Sunday schools. Actually, 29 existing centres in gyms and creches have chosen to become fully licensed, because those centres saw it as a new opportunity. If those centres were prepared to become fully licensed, I am sure that those that will be affected by the lighter regulatory impact will have no difficulty at all in complying with it.
Hon Dr Michael Cullen Link to this
Has the Minister undertaken any surveys of how many people take 1 hour to drop their child at a creche in a gym, then take the hour to have a shower—and possibly to have a shave as well, in some people’s cases—get dressed, and pick the child up; if people are taking 1 hour to do that, what will the Minister do about increasing productivity in this country, given that appalling record, which apparently is common amongst National Party - voting parents?
I guess the Deputy Prime Minister was trying to use humour to make a point. The bottom line is that I have put a lighter regulatory impact on centres in gyms, and on creches where children are there for a shorter time. We want children who are in a centre for a longer time to be safe, we want them to have correct facilities there, and we want them to have a learning experience. Surely, every member of this House would want that.
Why over-regulate at all, when parents actually know what is best for their children and are able to make those sorts of decisions themselves, and when the Minister himself says in his criteria that parents will be able to resume responsibility for the children at short notice; why is it limited to 6 hours a week—why not 7; why not 8—and why put those sorts of limits on parents making decisions for their own children?
As the member was outlining her question I was thinking of a report I received this week as Minister of Education about an unlicensed centre in Christchurch, not attached to a fitness centre, where children were not being supervised adequately, and where a child had to have part of a finger amputated because the children were not being supervised and kept in a safe place. That was a very practical example of a case I received in my briefing notes this week.
Does the Minister not accept that by over-regulating and making restrictive rules around gym creches they will be out-priced, so that parents will be unable to use the services and they will continue to close down, as they have done, and the effect will be that parents are unable to exercise at all?