17 Oct Floods: emergency declared for ECEC services in Vic, Tas & NSW

Posted on 17 Oct 2022

The Australian Department of Education has declared a period of emergency for the early childhood education and care sector in parts of Victoria and Tasmania following severe weather and flooding. Emergency provisions have also been expanded for NSW.

In Victoria, the period of emergency applies from 13 to 24 October 2022 for the following Local Government Areas (LGAs):

Alpine Shire, Benalla Rural City, Buloke Shire, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, City of Greater Bendigo, City of Greater Shepparton, Corangamite Shire, Gannawarra Shire, Hepburn Shire, Horsham Shire, Loddon Shire, Macedon Ranges Shire, Mansfield Shire, Maribyrnong City Council, Mitchell Shire Council, Moira Shire, Moonee Valley City, Murrindindi Shire, Northern Grampians, Pyrenees Shire, Rural City of Wangaratta and Strathbogie Shire.

The Department will update it’s list of affected LGAs as required.

The following support is available for services and families in affected regions during the period of emergency:

  • services can continue to get Child Care Subsidy (CCS) if they close as a direct result of the emergency
  • services can waive gap fees if a child doesn’t attend, or their service is closed, during the emergency
  • children will get unlimited allowable absences for the duration of the period of emergency.

The following support is available to help services and families recover after an emergency:

  • families may be able to access additional absences, if they’ve exhausted their allowable absences, after the emergency
  • the Community Child Care Fund (CCCF) special circumstances grant helps services stay open when something unexpected happens, such as an emergency. Affected services should apply after an event has occurred and they have accessed other disaster support
  • families experiencing temporary financial hardship due to an emergency that happened in the last six months may be eligible for Additional Child Care Subsidy. Families should apply through their Centrelink online account.

Full details of support are available on The Department website.

Other government support

Services in affected areas may also be eligible for other Australian and state government support such as for natural disasters. See your relevant government website Services Australia website or vic.gov.au .

What to do now

Services should inform the Australian Department of Education:

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