PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 28 FEBRUARY 1977
ADDRESS TO ST. MARK'S LUTHERAN CHILD CARE CENTRE, MT. GRAkVATT, BRISBANE
Thank you for inviting me here today to take part in what I
consider to be a very important occasion. The Commnonwealth
Government has given great emphasis to the need for adequate child
care services. As you have given me this opportunity. let me tell
you the reasons for the Government adopting this policy, and just
what this policy means.
We have know for some time about the need in the area of child
care. It was a Liberal-National Country Party Government that
first introduced, in 1972, an Act that provided for the
development of child care centres. The Child Care Act. In
1969 a survey was conducted which showed that although some
271,000 preschool aged children were the off-spring of working
mothers, there were only 555 child care centres in Australia able
to provide full day care for about 14,000 children. Only 40 of
these centres catering for only 2,000 children received any
form of government assistance from state or -local authorities.
Less than 10 percent of the pre-school children of working mothers
were in recognised child care centres.
Five years later, in 1974, the situation was not much irrproved.
of the 375,000 children under five years of age, whose responsible
parents were in the. workforce, only 38,700 were cared for in
recognised centres that is, just over 10 percent.
It was estimated that one out of eight school aged children whose
responsible parents were in the work force had no super-vision
for several hours during the day, before school opened, and after
it was finished.
I emphasise that in spite of the fact that increasing amounts
of government funds were directed to children's services by the
previous government, very little of this money went to help the
people who need it most -the people whom those fJ-' ures I have'
just. mentioned represent -the migrant families, the single
parents, families on low incomes. Their children were being
deprived of basic, adequate care, because the services just did
not exist to help them. Even where facilities did exist, they were
oftEn far too expensive for the people who needed them most. / 2
It is now apparent and it should have been apparent then
that the limited resources available should have been channelled
through assisting these families. And above all, to assisting
these children many of whom have been seriously deprived through
no fault of their own or of their parents' in the early formative
years of their life. It is for this reason that the Commonwealth
Government decided to give greater emphasis to the provisions
of child care services for families in need. Some people, however,
still believe that the provision of facilities such as St. Mark's
Lutheran Child Care Centre will encourage parents mothers in
particular to shirk their own responsibilities.
I believe the situation is a good deal more complicated than that.
The fact is that today there are more two income families
in Australia than sinqle income families. Further, in Queensland
a recent survey sho~ s that women comprise one third of the
Queensland labour force and that six out of ten of these women
are married. This is a demographic trend that Governments even
if they wanted to, could do little to reverse.
We have'-the situation that more women are marrying and have
occutDations outside the home. Girls as well as boys are spending
more time in full time education. And many adult women
are re-entering tertiary institutions, or entering them for the
first time.
There are also today, a growing number of single parent families.
Families headed by a single woman or man constitute almost
one tenth of the number of families in Australia.' I am especially
pleased to perform this ceremony today because the Liberal-
National Country Party Government's social welfare programmes
places great emphasis on cooperative effort by community groups.
It is the Government's belief that only by positive action
between groups like yourselves, with the assistance of government,
but without the hindrance of undue government interference, can an
effective approach to the whole question of social welfare be
achieved.
Only if groups such as yourselves define and commnunicate their needs
can the Commonwealth Government be fully responsive to those
needs. My Government is committed to encouraging the kind of
self-help evidenced and indeed exemplified by this Centre.
I understand that there are plans to p,-roviece within this complex
an aged person's hcffe and a youth hostel. This is a progressive
step and it is obvious that all groups will benefit greatly from one
another's presence and their contact with one another.
It gives me very great pleasure to declare the St. Mark's
Lutheran Child Care Centre officially open.
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