Inquiry into child care crisis needed, says MP Roma Britnell

The Member for South West Coast said she was disappointed her bid to have the issue investigated was knocked back.

"I put a motion to the house just today and I was so disappointed that the motion was not given leave so I could begin this debate, because there are solutions and there are solutions that the parents themselves have put forward," Ms Britnell said.

"All they are saying is, 'We need some bespoke solutions that can actually work for families'."

Ms Britnell said there needed to be an inquiry conducted into making more child care places available.

"I would ask the minister to reconsider the motion that I put before the house today and set this inquiry up so the answers are there and the parents understand what they need for their children and the families understand," she said.

"They are under enormous stress due to the cost-of-living crisis and they cannot get back to work and the doctors, the nurses, the police officers, the teachers and the retail staff are all needing more child care."

Ms Britnell said the state government had promised to build a new child care facility in Portland.

However, she said community members wanted to know when it would be built.

"There is no money allocated in the budget to that commitment and there is no time frame and the parents are at their wits' end because childcare is in real crisis," Ms Britnell said.

"We have got no people to do the jobs that are waiting to be filled, we have got no housing to put people in and we have not got child care for when people are able to go back to work.

"These three issues are really significant issues in south-west Coast. Recently we had a forum on child care because the families just need something done now, so the promise of something on the never-never with no allocation of funding was not something they were taking kindly to.

"They need a solution and they need it now."

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