Tuesday, 13 August 2019

St John’s Kindergarten, Croydon

Mr HODGETT (Croydon) (13:03): I rise today to pay credit where credit is due: to all of the hardworking parents, early childhood teachers and organisers who provide excellent care and education for our preschool-age children. In particular I would like to mention St John’s Kindergarten, Croydon, who provide an outstanding service for the Croydon community yet have struggled to secure financial support to assist with ongoing issues at their kinder. St John’s have been in contact with local council, state government and the relevant departments, only to be bounced around with no answers or assistance in sight. They are a government-run not-for-profit kindergarten, but because they are not located in a council building, there is no funding pool available to them.

The kindergarten operates on a very tight budget and was in desperate need of urgent funding to pay for the replacement of pipes in their bathroom so the facility remained safe for the 66 children that attend. While they were waiting for assistance, the pipe ruptured, forcing the kinder to exhaust every single dollar they had fundraised and saved to pay for the bathroom. I am aware that the children’s facilities capital program is now taking applications for minor and major works for upgrades to facilities, but this is too late for St John’s as they cannot make an application for funding to undertake works that have already been completed. This seems entirely unfair and unjust. On behalf of St John’s Kindergarten in Croydon and given the nature of this issue, I encourage the Andrews government and the minister to please consider providing them with some emergency relief funding to assist with the daily operation of their facility. A relatively small amount of money would go a long way in assisting St John’s Kindergarten and would deliver real benefits to the kids and the kinder community.