Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Early childhood education

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:30): (127) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep and concerns early childhood education. The action that I seek is an update on how the Andrews Labor government’s Best Start, Best Life program is supporting our children and families in Southern Metropolitan Region. We all know how early education can transform each and every individual child’s life. With 90 per cent of a child’s brain developing before the age of five, it is reason enough to care deeply about and, importantly, to commit resources to. That is exactly what the Andrews Labor government has done. We have committed $9 billion to transforming Victoria’s early childhood sector, committed to the life-changing transformations of kinder for three-year-olds and four-year-olds and committed to giving all Victorian children the best start in life.

I mentioned in my inaugural speech the privilege I had working with the then federal Labor opposition’s first policy document back in 2006 to deliver 15 hours of universal preschool for four-year-olds. When we came to government in 2007, we began delivery across the country, but I think what Victoria today shows is that that program, while ambitious at the time, was nowhere near ambitious enough. There is so much more that we can do, and that is exactly what this government’s Best Start, Best Life reforms are all about. They are about providing 140,000 children and families with free kinder this year. Those families will not go out of pocket in trying to give their kids the best start in life, because they will be saving $2500 in kinder fees each year per child under this $270 million program. And they will not have to, in the way that we are setting up to administer this program, worry about claiming things back from the government. Participating kinder programs will receive funding directly and pass that on to families as fee relief. With more than 2750 services across Victoria offering free kindergarten this year, there are certainly many in the Southern Metropolitan Region who stand to benefit.

The Andrews Labor government’s commitment to making kindergarten easier, cheaper and more accessible is to make sure that each and every young child has the chance to have the very best start in life. That is why we are committed to this overhaul of early childhood education and care and why we are leading the nation. It is an unprecedented investment in making sure that all of Victoria’s little learners can get their very best start in life. By removing the cost barrier to early education, we are also supporting primary carers, predominantly women, to make the choice to return to the workforce if they wish. I would appreciate any further information the minister can provide on how the Andrews Labor government is supporting early childhood learning right across the Southern Metropolitan Region.