Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Kindergarten funding

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:09): (236) My question is to the Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep. Minister, from January 2025 Knox City Council is closing the doors of its kindergartens to over 1100 students, leaving 120 staff in limbo. The mayor of Knox has said, ‘Funding has not kept up with the cost,’ blaming Labor’s so-called free kinder policy for the closures. What guarantee can the minister give Victorian families that there will be no more kinder cuts or closures due to Labor’s botched program?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:09): I thank Dr Bach for the question, and it does give me the opportunity to set the record straight. There has never been more investment in early childhood education and care in our state’s history, including the support that we are providing to local government. Local government has a long and proud history in terms of delivering kindergarten programs to communities right across the state, so I am very disappointed in the decision that Knox City Council have made to divest of a number of kindergarten services.

I do not accept the premise that the funding is not adequate. In fact I will just take you through a few facts and figures, Dr Bach. Prior to free kinder being introduced last year by our government, Knox were charging families $1750 per enrolment per child. Our free kinder funding is $2500 per child per year, so that is a significant uplift in the amount of funding available to Knox for the delivery of kindergarten services. I might add that on top of that free kinder funding there are a range of other funding –

Matthew Bach: On a point of order, President, we have heard time and time again from this minister about the great merits of this program. I asked a specific question: can she guarantee no more Labor cuts and closures to kindergartens? She has been speaking for some time. She has not come close –

The PRESIDENT: She has still got 1 minute and 37, and she is being relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: For Dr Bach to represent this as cuts and closures is an absolute misrepresentation of the decision that has been made here. Knox City Council have made a decision to divest of kindergarten services. Ultimately that is a decision that they will have to be held accountable for by their community. The Victorian government will be focused on making sure that the community of Knox has quality kindergarten programs available to every three- and four-year-old child in the municipality. I am disappointed that Knox have decided to walk away from the provision of kindergarten, but I can tell you one thing: my department will be solely focused on making sure that those kindergarten services are available.

There has never been more support for infrastructure and service provision in our state’s history in early childhood education and care – $1.2 billion of investment in this state budget alone for infrastructure support, a doubling of the capacity grant support for local government and also modular builds delivered fully funded by the Victorian government. I can assure those opposite that we will continue to focus on our nation-leading reforms so that every child, no matter where they live in our state, can access quality free kindergarten for both three- and four-year-olds.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: There is way too much yelling. Save it for the football.

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:13): I note the minister’s failure to provide that guarantee to Victorians of no more cuts or closures. Minister, councils on the Mornington Peninsula are now assessing the viability of their kindergartens. They also cite your botched free kinder program. Can the minister guarantee there will be no kindergarten cuts or closures on the Mornington Peninsula?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:14): I thank Dr Bach for his supplementary question. I did have the opportunity to recently meet with Mornington shire and talk about what their infrastructure needs are in their community, and it was a very positive conversation about what the needs of that council are. We talked through the many increased funding streams that are available for them to deliver the infrastructure that is going to be required for our nation-leading reforms, where we will see the doubling of the number of hours available to each three- and four-year-old across the state. My department have been in active discussions with Mornington since that meeting occurred a couple of weeks back, and they will continue to work closely and work on all of the ways in which our government can support that council in the delivery of services in their municipality.