BAY ISLAND EARLY LEARNING CHILD CARE FIGHTING FOR ITS VERY EXISTENCE
Bay Island Early Learning and Care on Macleay Island is a stalwart of our island community.
For years it has provided vital early childhood care facilities for island children of many working families on all the Bay Islands.
That was until in recent times the State Government invested heavily in early childhood care education on Russell Island by building a new 22 place Kindergarten facility attached to the Russell Island State School.
Prior to that happening last year, Petrae McLean of Bay Island Early Learning ran a daily bus over to Russell to collect children from that island, since 2013.
The impact of the loss of young students on Russell Island, has affected the viability of the entire long day care operation from birth up to and including school aged children.
A change in Government policy has also meant that State and Federal funding for childcare is now difficult to come by and it has put the business under considerable financial pressure.
It is an irony that classification of child care on Macleay and Lamb Islands is ‘different’ to that of Russell and Karragarra Island, the Russell Island State School’s designated catchment.
Macleay and Lamb are ‘inner regional’ and Russell and Karragarra are regarded as ‘outer regional’.
It is the difference between being classified as ‘remote’ or ‘non remote’ which has a huge influence on whether you qualify for additional funding or not.
To add to the Early Learning Centre’s financial pressures the Russell Island Kindergarten, does not adhere to Federal Government Family Tax Law, i.e no requirement for family Childcare Subsidy eligibility, and with the Qld Department of Education advising that their Kindergarten ‘Is not school’s catchment area i.e. Lamb and Macleay Islands.
Two areas of funding that is available to some early learning and kindergarten facilities are Indigenous Community Funding and KindyUplift funding.
North Stradbroke Island and Russell Island qualify with the new Russell Island facility being implemented under what is known as the Qld Remote Indigenous State Delivered Kindergarten model; while the Macleay Island and the base Early Learning Centre was ruled not eligible for State KindyUplift funding in 2022 due to not meeting Department criteria based on low-socioeconomic, indigenous and non-english speaking status. Funding that was even extended to elite John Paul College Kindergarten.
Petra McLean currently has an application for Federal Funding for $100,000 under Community Sustainability Funding.
It is currently ‘under review’ which means it will either be a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
Additional funding applications lodged with the Federal Government have to date been unsuccessful, with limited possibility of success next year.
The outcome of numerous submissions, applications and advocacies made to the State Government to address the inequity and on-flowing community impacts, remain uncertain.
Petrae told The Friendly Bay islander: “We are asking for equitable funding based off the funding model utilised by the State for their Russell Island facility.
“If we don’t get this State funding, I don’t know what we will do.
“We have been building this business for 13 years involving high levels of qualifications attained and required by our team, two of whom just recently graduating with University Early Childhood Specialist Teaching degrees.
“We are all island residents; we are all qualified Early Childhood Educators due to careful workforce planning, a location necessity.
“We are providing an important child minding education and ‘care’ essential community service for many island families in an offshore community that is both isolated and vulnerable.
“If we can’t survive into the future and be viable, it will be a blow to island child and family support services, and would mean families would have to seek out similar services located on the mainland,” Petrae said.
Being under such financial pressure due to little or no Government support is stressful to the extreme.
“We are hanging on by a shoestring at the moment and family members have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep this childcare facility open.
“We have applied for multiple levels of funding, all with little or no success,” Petrae said.
She added: “We need our community to reach out to our elected representatives and government officials to seek support for Early Learning and Childcare on Macleay Island, so that our children are safe and well cared for while their families work.
YOU CAN HELP BY signing and sharing our petition at
Save our Service Flyer with QR code to petition is attached.
And/Or
Sending an email, letter, telephone call or otherwise asking the following
person/s to support a positive resolution:
* Kim Richards, MP (State) : redlands@parliment.qld.gov.au
* Henry Pike, MP (Federal) : Henry.pike@aph.gov.au
* Tania Porter, EC DDG (State Early Childhood) : DDG.EC@qed.qld.gov.au
* Office of the Director-General (State Department of Education):
* Hon Jason Clare MP (Federal Minister of Education) :
• Petrae McLean