Tuesday, 17 October 2023

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Ingrid Stitt:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (20:47): I rise to speak to the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023, and I am pleased to be able to make a contribution towards this debate this evening because it is an important bill that has been brought before the house. It does look at early childhood education, and it has been an issue that this government has been very much lauding for many years with their free kinder program, but of course we know that the free kinder program comes with costs, as has been highlighted by my colleague in the other place Ms Wilson. She has highlighted that in fact this is probably a flawed model that the government has not thought through, and why would we be surprised by that? It is disappointing that the government has probably got this flawed project running in relation to this bill, and I will come back to that. It should not surprise anyone, given their track record of delivering infrastructure-type projects.

What this bill does, as part of the $14 billion investment by the government for the Best Start, Best Life initiative, is expand access to early childhood education and care. As a result of that expansion, the government is going to need to build new state-owned early childhood infrastructure across multiple sites across the state. That is why I make the point about it being probably a flawed plan that the government has implemented, because they have got such a shocking track record on infrastructure projects. As we know, $30 billion in waste, in mismanagement, and of course the Premier has been largely responsible for the vast majority of those infrastructure project blowouts.

I think it is important to understand that this bill, which goes to amending the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, is to extend the Victorian government’s current powers to compulsorily acquire land for schools. That will now cover state-owned kindergartens and childcare centres. That is the point of this act. It is extending that act that is in place that already has the powers to acquire land for the development of schools; it is going to extend into early childcare centres, as I have mentioned. That is the very point, because the Premier, as I have said, has a shocking track record in compulsory acquisition through the many infrastructure projects that she has been responsible for and overseen. The North East Link, sky rail in my area of Southern Metropolitan Region – and Mr Davis knows only too well because of what we did working with the community in areas that were impacted in Southern Metro, around Murrumbeena and Oakleigh and the like, where many, many people had properties acquired. Of course the government went and acquired all those properties, and it was found that they did not need to acquire them all.

Isn’t that just so typical of Labor? They just cannot get anything right. God knows what their boffins do, but they honestly do not do anything properly, and these ministers who are responsible never take any responsibility. It is the now Premier who has overseen the mismanagement of many of these projects, and many know in this chamber that the North East Link has had compulsory acquisition of homes and businesses and of the distress that has caused many.

I make those points because we are talking about education, and of course we want the best education for our children. Unfortunately, standards are falling in the state, and there are real concerns around kids coming through schools that just do not even have the basics. We do want good education facilities in this state and we understand that with a growing population kindergartens and childcare centres need to be built, but when you are coming in and acquiring personal property, then you need to do it in a very considered way, and that is why we do hold out some concern, because of the government’s track record on this and their disregard for private ownership. I mean, they really do not regard that in the way that we on this side of the house do. We absolutely value and understand that it is incredibly important to be able to have your own home and, if government has come over the top of you, that it has to be the very last resort and not done lightly. And that is my point about the Premier and her track record in compulsory acquisition: it has been a disaster. So I have no faith in this government actually doing what they need to do, and I urge them to be very diligent in any compulsory acquisition.

Returning to this bill, the Education and Training Reform Act, as I said, is the legislative framework that governs public education in Victoria, and it provides that authority to be able to compulsorily acquire land. As I said, it does not extend to allowing early childhood and kindergartens to be included, and this bill will then allow that to occur. Last year, in the lead-up to the election, in a desperate plea to win over voters the government announced with great fanfare that 50 government-operated childcare centres would be up and running by 2028. That is in just a few years time, and it is a big ask to be able to get all of those childcare centres up and operational. Thirty of the 50 locations were identified – only 30 – so there is a big gap there, and to date the government have only identified land for four childcare centres. So a year ago they made this big announcement that they were going to have 50 centres, and to date there have only been four that have been located.

The government also told Victorians that they would co-locate these childcare centres with primary schools, and I do not have a problem with that notion; I think that is a sensible notion. It makes sense to have an education hub and have those facilities onsite. But you have got to do the work to go out there before you tell Victorians what you are going to do, and that is where I think this plan is largely flawed, because they are now saying, ‘Well, that’s not going to be appropriate,’ or it is not always appropriate or even possible.

So the government, as a result of those issues that they have found themselves in, are progressing plans to construct an unstated number of state-owned childcare centres on newly acquired land that is either close to existing school sites or on existing sites. That is going to be where they can acquire possibly ovals or areas of education centres to put early childhood centres in, and we do not want to be losing any of that land if it is to the disadvantage of children being able to conduct their education programs and sporting endeavours. I think that is incredibly important – that we need to maintain as much as we can our sporting ovals to give open space and sporting facilities to as many children as possible. We have got a real issue in this state about physical activity, a growing obesity problem, and as we know, sport is so good for not only your physical health but also your mental health.

As I return to what this is about, this early education issue, we do know that research into education in early childhood demonstrates the critical importance of education in a child’s early formative years, and we do support that in terms of setting young people up into the future around their education. So we need these facilities, but we need to make sure that when it is done it is done appropriately. I know that there have been various stakeholders who have raised concerns regarding how the government may acquire land from private property owners, and that includes non-government schools. Now, we know this government has an absolute ideological – it is almost like they just do not believe in anything that has private ownership or anything to do with private schools. They are taxing private schools; we know that. The schools tax is going to impact on so many Victorian families, and it has put real pressure on so many schools, so this is a real concern. If they are going to go and identify land in non-government schools and start to put early childcare centres in those areas and to impact on those facilities, that just shows the ideological bent that this government has – and it is very anti-private in so many areas.

Now, what I wanted to say is the government made this announcement of $14 billion, but what is the impact of the budget on this? I mean, where is the budget around how they are actually going to do it? There are a lot of questions around that, and I want to tease that out in committee when we get to that on Thursday. I will be asking some questions around the impacts to the budget and how the Best Start, Best Life policy will require a significant amount of capital and also resources to run it. In this year’s budget, the 2023–24 state budget, it included provision of $2.2 billion to build these early childhood infrastructure facilities – so the 50 the government has said would fit in that envelope. But as I said, there are a lot of questions around, well – does that $2.2 billion include the acquisition of land? And as we know, land costs are increasing. The government is putting taxes on so many areas in property, but of course this would be exempt from any of that. But nevertheless, we want to understand: how does that budget component actually fit, and have they done their sums? Somehow, I suspect not.

Now, we also have concerns around the implementation of the Best Start, Best Life initiative, the government’s signature policy. This bill supports that initiative, but again I say this government is all about spruiking big announcements. They overpromise but they underdeliver the whole time, and we have seen that in many, many areas around infrastructure. So with the issues around the Big Build and the growing debt that the state has we really do need to understand: have the government done their sums, have they got it right and what are the impacts going to be for the Victorian community – but particularly for those young people that may be left without the facilities because of poor planning or implementation?

I just want to make a comment around sessional kinder. We have asked questions to the former minister. She has moved on from that portfolio now, but we have raised many concerns because our not-for-profit kinders, especially in my area of Southern Metro, have raised concerns with me over many months about the government’s funding program of $2500 per child. It does not go to the actual ability to deliver the programs in some of these kindergartens. These educators that are in these kindergartens are highly trained, but the funding does not actually meet the needs of those kindergarten programs. So those kinders are going to have to cut services or cut programs, and that is going to be to the detriment of those young children that are getting high-quality education in these not-for-profit kindergartens. The government has refused to listen to these concerns. We asked the former minister on many occasions about that, but the reality is we are seeing what is happening, and I think certainly in some areas in Melbourne we are seeing the viability of these services being put under enormous pressure.

Just a couple of weeks ago, in August, Knox City Council announced that it will cease running almost all of its kindergartens at the end of next year. That is going to have a direct impact on what the government is saying it is doing to deliver these programs and provide this education to these young people. If councils cannot run these kindergartens – you have got four of the 50 identified. When are they going to be up and running? The four that they have identified out of the 50 are Eaglehawk North Primary School early learning centre, Moomba Park Primary School early learning centre, Murtoa College early learning centre and Sunshine Primary School early learning centre. I am not sure how many of those are in Knox – not too many I do not think. So that is a real concern.

Of course we have got other councils that are also saying, ‘We can’t be providing these services to deliver these programs,’ and parents are very concerned. Many parents have spoken to me about the concerns around councils really struggling or the not-for-profit early education sector really struggling, as I said, to be able to deliver those programs. That is not delivering quality education; that is actually diminishing quality education. That is as a direct result of government policy – ill-thought-through big promises of free kinder: ‘We’re going to do this. We’re going to do that. It’s going to be free.’ It sounds fabulous, but in reality this government’s free policy has big costs and big implications for the actual delivery of what they tell Victorians they are doing.

I will leave my contribution here. I want to just say I will be asking questions on Thursday, as I have said, but I do hope the government can clarify a lot of the concerns that we have regarding this bill around the implementation and around the sites and what will happen to the areas as Victoria grows and as these young children require the early education that has been promised by this government. I hope it will not be a broken promise. I hope they can do it, but the reality is that in many areas there is limited space. The government, I think, has gone out there and promised the world, and I have real concerns that they will be unable to deliver what they have promised.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:03): I also rise to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023, and I do so having sat here through the previous contribution wondering that we hear the Greens speaking in this chamber accusing us of privatising everything, and now we hear the Liberals speaking and accusing us of trying to seize private land all the time excessively. The fact of the matter is this is a government that is delivering for Victorians, and under the Allan Labor government we have a clear laser-eyed focus on putting children at the heart of that. On that note I would also like to acknowledge the new Minister for Children Minister Blandthorn. I know you will play an outstanding role in this space with your team as well.

We have had all sorts of stuff. I will come back to Knox later, but we have heard about sky rail and North East Link. And I very much appreciate the opportunity that the opposition members continually provide us with to talk about the achievements of this government, including having removed 71 – it might be 72 now – level crossings across Melbourne as part of our plan to remove 110 across the state and of course providing the vital infrastructure that we need. Whether it is the Metro Tunnel or the North East Link, projects big and small are being delivered. To use the examples of these projects that are well advanced, and in the case of level crossing removals already achieved, I say I appreciate them because they do highlight that this government has a strong track record, as evidenced by some of the things that Ms Crozier herself was talking about.

This bill is an important part of delivering these Best Start, Best Life reforms that are going to transform education for our youngest Victorians. There are many, many aspects to what this bill will do. Fundamentally, though, it is going to assist the minister to deliver the critical infrastructure that is needed to support this reform program and in doing so provide affordable child care to more Victorians where they need it most. This is the government that is doing something about it. Expanding the minister’s powers to do so either by agreement or compulsorily and to take on or grant other interests in land to provide childhood education and care, alongside other services associated with early childhood education and care, is the focus of this bill. The reform will give the minister the needed powers to address a lack of ECEC facilities and proactively deliver services to areas where demand is expected to exceed the existing capacity.

Change is needed. The Allan Labor government is getting on with it, and in both metropolitan and regional Victoria this government is building new kindergartens, expanding services and upgrading existing facilities to be modern, accessible and inclusive. Also of course, as part of this year’s state budget, there is $1.2 billion allocated for kindergarten infrastructure projects required for the continued expansion of three-year-old kinder and the transition to pre-prep. This will help in delivery, and it will help various parts of it. It is critical in facilitating the delivery of these kindergartens and early learning centres. This will expand the state’s powers to acquire and develop land to provide early childhood education, care and other associated services in whichever framework is applied. It is most likely to be done with the assistance of the Victorian School Building Authority.

Having co-located kinders or kinders adjacent to schools is a really, really important thing, and we are seeing this in the growing suburbs especially. My colleague Mr Tarlamis and I have been keeping a close eye on the new Topirum Primary School, former name Alexander Boulevard, in Clyde North, a fantastic new school that will be opening for Clyde North next year. As part of this initiative we are also going to see a brand new co-located kinder site. That is under works at the moment as well. It is going to be fantastic to see these things together. It is better for the children, better for the families and better for our local communities as a whole, especially our growing communities in the outer south-east.

There has been some conversation, and Ms Crozier raised the issue, of some councils currently going through the process of privatising their kindergarten services. She cited the example of Knox. I do have to say and, as other members in this room have previously stated, I do find it highly disappointing that the Knox council is in the process of privatising, of handing back, their kindergarten services, not because of a lack of increased government investment but in spite of it. These reforms are providing the resources that they need. I might as well say, as I am one of the local MPs for that area, from their own discussions with us they have not cited cost as a reason for why they are doing it. They have cited all sorts of things. In my personal view I think they have something of a privatisation bent, and I would say to other colleagues as well: if you want to look at privatisation with some of these councils, definitely have a look at them, because I think this is the wrong thing for Knox council to be doing, and as I say, they have not cited funding as a reason for not doing this. They have cited all sorts of things – frankly things that, Mr Puglielli, you and I will probably agree on in terms of what people who like to privatise things often do say in terms of flexibility and things like that. I will definitely have that conversation with you in more detail. But frankly they have not cited cost.

I do want to acknowledge that Mr Batchelor this morning talked about Glen Eira council doing similar things. But not every council is, and Mr Batchelor acknowledged Bayside City Council. I would also like to acknowledge Kingston City Council in my region, who are expanding those services and who are doing more. So I do not think Ms Crozier’s comments are fair, linking the decisions of a council, which frankly I strongly disagree with, to these reforms, because the funding that we are providing is actually still increasing. So I do not know how you can say that you provided it previously; we are now giving you more money and suddenly you cannot provide it. As I say, I do not believe those are the reasons.

There are many other aspects of this bill, and I know many colleagues of mine will go into much more detail, but as I do say, it goes to the fundamental principle of believing that Victorian children deserve a good education from the early years, irrespective of their postcode and irrespective of their background. For many other reasons, which I know my colleagues will go into as well, this is a really important part of our reform package in this space.

I take Ms Crozier’s comments in the cooperative and productive spirit in which I hope they were intended. I was not quite clear from her contribution if the Liberals will be supporting this bill. I certainly hope they will be. For the benefit of our children and, going forward, for the benefit of our broader society, I certainly hope that this will be a bill widely supported in the house. Therefore I do commend it.

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:11): I rise today to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023, which the Greens are supporting. This bill will expand the minister’s powers to acquire land, either by agreement or compulsorily, for early childhood education centres and other associated services, such as maternal and child health centres. Currently land for a preschool program can only be acquired by agreement. It also provides for the leasing of land or premises for relevant early childhood education purposes.

The bill also expands the purpose and principles of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 to cover early childhood education centres, as they currently only relate to the education of adults and school-age children, and it adds some aspirational commitments about the importance of early childhood education and of universal access to it. These powers already exist for the provision of other educational sites, such as schools and TAFEs and the like. This bill is just expanding the scope of educational facilities to include early childhood, primarily so that the government can progress their Best Start, Best Life reforms, which include establishing 50 government-run early learning centres.

Learning begins at birth, and the first five years of life are the most important time for development, and a child’s experiences and opportunities during these first years can have lifelong impacts on health, future learning and life success. Access to early childhood education is vital for setting children up for a brighter future and helps foster their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. Early childhood learning can reduce poverty and inequality and improve social mobility. It is such an important part of building our communities. We really need to make sure that governments are providing the funding and resources required to match the care and education that this sector brings to our children.

The Greens have long been supportive of free kinder for three- and four-year-olds – something we have been calling on the government to implement for years before the more recent announcements. That aside, free kinder is good policy. As I have already said, early childhood education is incredibly important to set young people up for the future. Universal access to early childhood education is critical for the development of children. It is important that this access to early childhood education is the same across Victoria. Children who live outside our metropolitan areas and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are at a higher risk of starting school behind their peers, something that can have a lasting impact on their education.

Another important element of a thriving early childhood education system is quality staff who are well paid and offered good conditions and opportunities for career development. We all know that early childhood educators have been poorly paid for too long, particularly given just how essential child care and kinder are to a child’s development and how important they are to women and to carers and to supporting them to return to work. It was another thing that the pandemic exposed: for those in the caring economy, health sector and education sector it has led to a long overdue re-evaluation of the significance and essential nature of these professions. It has become increasingly clear that our most essential workers are among those in the lowest paid and most precarious roles. The impact that early childhood teachers have on a child’s life is certainly not reflected in their wages, and it is well past time for people who educate and care for our children to have the pay and the conditions that they have long deserved. Making the early childhood education sector as attractive as possible will help increase the number of people entering training, will help support a stable workforce and will benefit the whole community. There are still concerns that there just will not be enough early childhood educators to cover the need, so we need to be doing all that we can to encourage, train and retain these workers. We have much more to do, but those are conversations for another time. I commend the bill to the house.

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (21:15): It is good to be here to rise and speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023 and the positive impact it will have on Victorian families and the future generations of our littlest learners. The Allan Labor government is building 50 early childhood centres in communities that need them most. These centres are crucial to be able to deliver programs like free kinder and pre-prep. The opening of these new childcare centres is a testament to our government’s commitments to working parents. Balancing the demands of work and family can be a tremendous challenge, and these new centres will ease that burden. They will provide a reliable and nurturing environment for children, allowing parents to have peace of mind knowing that their children are in free kinder at one of the 50 new childcare centres right around our state.

This initiative will also provide a significant boost to local economies by creating local jobs and stimulating growth in our communities. These centres are not just places of learning, they are hubs of opportunity. They are creating employment opportunities for educators and support staff, empowering local businesses and contributing to the overall prosperity of our towns and our cities. Let us take this moment to embrace it with gratitude and optimism. You see, the opening of these 50 new childcare centres is a testament to the Allan Labor government’s unwavering commitment to our children, our families and our future. Together we are building a society where every child has access to quality education and every family is supported on their journey. These centres are not just buildings, they are symbols of progress and how very far we have come.

Can I just take a moment to acknowledge the former Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Minister Ingrid Stitt for her hard work. I know that she has left an incredibly ambitious load for the new minister, and I am sure she is up to that massive challenge. I have got to say I will look back with fond memories of our time together in the inner city opening, visiting and reading books at some centres in the inner city, because as much as there is an explosion of need right across the state, our inner cities are feeling the pinch. But these centres that we so very much need cannot be delivered without this bill before the house right now and the proposed changes it will make to the minister’s ability to acquire appropriate land for these childcare centres. It is a basic, simple and practical change that will allow the government’s policy to be implemented as fast as possible so Victorian families can see the tangible benefits of these policies.

The key change that this bill will make is to amend the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 to provide the minister with the ability to acquire and deal with land for the purposes of providing early childhood education and care and other associated services as part of the Victorian government’s Best Start, Best Life reforms and policies. It ensures that we can acquire and develop land to provide early childhood centre education and care and stresses the importance of early childhood education and the state’s role in providing these services. These services nurture our future generations. They ensure Victorian families have ample access to the facilities they need.

The next generation of Victorian little learners deserve to be educated in world-class, first-class facilities, and that is exactly what will happen once these centres are made available. It will allow Victorian families greater access to another terrific Allan government policy, free kinder. You see, free kinder is a staple policy of the Allan Labor government, with the Best Start, Best Life policy being a life-changing platform that will provide enormous benefits right across the state. I reflect on many, many conversations that I have had. Can I just say, the free kinder program that is included in the Best Start, Best Life policy will see Victorian children aged three and four have the opportunity to access free kinder at both standalone sessional kinder and the long day care childcare centres.

This policy is not just good for the little ones. The policy will save Victorian families an average of $2500 a year per child. Let me just repeat that for a moment: it is $2500 a year per child, and we know that the childcare bill can be an enormous strain on the family budget. This policy recognises that immense financial relief that it will provide to families, and the burden of education costs can be almighty daunting for parents, but with the free kinder policy in place families can breathe easier knowing that their children are receiving a high-class, high-quality education without the hefty price tag. This not only empowers parents but also creates an environment where financial stress does not stand in the way of a child’s learning journey. The free kinder policy is a testament to the Allan Labor government’s vision for every child’s potential to be valued and nurtured. It embodies the belief that investing in education is investing in our collective future. We are sowing the seeds of progress, ensuring that our state continues to prosper for many generations to come. It is just another way the Allan Labor government is delivering for Victoria and doing what really matters.

Looking into future commitments, I am delighted to be here making a contribution to this bill before us and saying that this policy just makes sense. Investment in early childhood education is an investment in our littlest learners and indeed our whole state. That is why the Allan Labor government is delivering a $14 billion transformation of Victoria’s early childhood sector, delivering our nation-leading Best Start, Best Life reform. It is a once-in-a-generation reform committed to giving Victorian children the very best start in life. And let me just say that cannot happen without skilled educators, so I will just take a moment to acknowledge the incredible, incredible work these centres will do, backed by the enormous skills of our educators. I will take a moment to acknowledge those workers, their education, their training, their commitment and the passion that they bring to the job each and every day, supported so much by their union, the United Workers Union. I have had the good pleasure of meeting a great number of early childhood education workers over the years, and more so recently, since beginning this role, and I must say they are the gems of our community and should be valued as such.

Whilst I could go on and say more, the truth is that these centres will not be possible without the bill before us, and where possible they will deliver child care, kindergarten and eventually pre-prep and other early childhood services – and I am thinking too of maternal and child health services. They will be built right across Victoria in areas that have the greatest need, and I do know that there are some areas across the Northern Metropolitan Region that do fall in that ‘greatest need’ category. It will make it easier for families to access education and care.

I commend this bill to the floor so that the cost will no longer be a barrier to families accessing early childhood education – or those dreaded daily double drop-offs and those incredible commutes that so many of our parents are making to find a local centre close to home so that they can get on with their jobs.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (21:24): Today I rise to contribute to the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023, which will provide the Minister for Education and the Minister for Children adequate and appropriate powers to acquire and develop land to implement the expansion of the $14 billion Best Start, Best Life (BSBL) program. First, I want to begin by thanking the two former members in this space, Minister Hutchins in the other place, as the former Minister for Education, and Minister Stitt in this place, the former Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep. Their commitment to and stewardship of our reforms will ensure that the Allan Labor government’s reform of $14 billion over the next decade will completely transform early childhood education and care. I thank them not just for their hard work but for their advocacy and commitment to their respective portfolios, and I wish them well in their new roles. I am excited to work with the new Minister for Education Deputy Premier Carroll in the other place and Minister Blandthorn, overseeing portfolio responsibilities for children. I congratulate them on their new ministerial appointments and wish them all the very best. I look forward to working with them to deliver on this reform agenda.

The BSBL program was a groundbreaking reform by the then Andrews Labor government with a clear vision of expanding early childhood education and care to all children, making sure we are looking after all families in Victoria. The government made strong commitments to supporting the sector and expanding the program further, and we are getting on with just that. To do that we need to build early childhood education and care centres, to develop key infrastructure. The infrastructure to support this once-in-a-generation reform program will be delivered by all Victorian school building authorities under the early childhood and pre-prep portfolio. These projects will be central to delivering these services and our broader commitment to reforming and expanding early childhood education and care in this great state. To do this there needs to be more land available for use so we can build these centres. It is my pleasure to stand before the Parliament today to commend the amendment of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. This will make further provision for the acquisition, use and development of land for the purpose of early childhood education and care and for services associated with early childhood education and care and will provide for other minor and related matters.

The bill expands on the current education-focused powers in the act to acquire and develop land to include purposes related to the provision of early childhood education centres. Currently the purposes of the act are limited to the provision of education and training for adults and children of school age. As such, references to education and training in the act are limited to school-based education, vocational education and training, and higher education, without making specific provisions for early childhood education. The bill will amend the purposes of the act to include this vital area of education, which will in effect expand the minister’s existing powers to include acquiring and developing land for the purposes of early childhood learning, which I will touch on shortly.

Just to give some clarity on the scale of the early education reforms I am talking about here, in the last decade the Victorian government has committed $14 billion to delivering the Best Start, Best Life reforms. That investment has allowed free kinder to be rolled out for all three- and four-year-old children at participating services. This is a meaningful change which shows the importance of access to early childhood education programs for all children.

Over the next decade, four-year-old kinder, being kindergarten in the year before school, will transition to pre-prep. Pre-prep will become a universal 30-hour-a-week program of play-based learning available to four-year-old children across the state. This will enable a doubling of educational opportunities available for children in their years before school. Subsequently it will mean children will have twice the amount of teacher-led play-based learning time to develop the critical social, emotional and cognitive skills they need for the following years of their education and ultimately their life – and how good is that. Research has indicated that children who have attended two years of a quality kindergarten program will on average benefit from better developed cognitive, social and emotional skills when they start school; achieve higher examination scores at secondary age, including better grades in English and maths; and be more likely to take final year exams and go on to higher academic study.

These children are the future of Victoria, and this bill enables this change to happen. It paves the way for our government’s ambitious and nation-leading reforms to be delivered across the state. Early childhood education should be available to all Victorian families. That is what this bill does. It helps make sure that no child in this state is left without an opportunity to advance themselves. The bill will play a critical role in facilitating the delivery of these commitments by providing already existing land powers that are currently in place for the education portfolio to the early childhood and pre-prep portfolio to create a clear legislative power for other land arrangements such as leasing.

I want to make it clear before I go on that this bill in no way tramples on the important role after-school care workers play in Victoria. Child care provided outside school hours is incredibly important for working families who are not always able to pick up their children from school at the advertised end of the day. This bill does not intend to push these providers to the side. They work hard to look after our children, and I thank them for their service. Grants are available for those providers, such as various Building Blocks grants, which help these providers grow and continue to deliver their work for their families. What we intend is an expansion of early childhood education and care in areas where there are some gaps in the market. It is not our intention to go up against these providers but to address the parts of our state where insufficient access to these services is available. Many parts of our state do not have early childhood centres to help their families.

Our bill aims to fix that by developing centres devoted to early childhood education and care where provision of care is scarce. As I said earlier, every child in this state deserves to have these opportunities and services. We are ensuring with this bill that all working families have the same services and options as every other family in Victoria, not to the detriment of school hours care providers and not to the detriment of family care services but to the benefit of everyday Victorians. By creating a legislative power to acquire the land and enter into leasing arrangements, the government can get started on building key infrastructure for the sector and expanding services to more Victorians, which I will touch on in a moment.

First, I want to bring up the consultation behind this bill. In most of my speeches in this place this year, whenever I have spoken about one of the bills that this side of the chamber has crafted, I have talked about consultation, listening to those who understand the issue to come to the best outcome. My office manager, who is a law student, was telling me how the law profession has the perception that bills are becoming more and more poorly drafted across the Westminster system of government. I am pleased that the government is committed to best practice and ensuring that bills are plain and clear and that our government has consulted with the relevant government departments. We have particularly engaged with the Municipal Association of Victoria, the Victorian Planning Authority and the local government portfolio within the Department of Government Services. We have also consulted with all relevant areas of government, including the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Department of Transport and Planning, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the Department of Health. Feedback received was minor in nature and inconsequential to the bill.

The consultation with the Municipal Association of Victoria involved discussions centred around the likelihood of the state government compulsorily acquiring local government land. The Department of Education noted that these powers had not previously been used by the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to acquire local government land under the education portfolio and were unlikely to be used for early childhood and pre-prep projects given the strong partnership approach to early childhood education and care infrastructure project delivery with local government. The government will do its due diligence if it is to go down the path of compulsory land acquisition. We will consider other options, and we will do what we can to minimise the impact on landowners. Where compensation can be agreed on, we will follow through on that.

The government will also do what it can to ensure that the acquisition of land for development is done with proper engagement with traditional owners. We will take the necessary steps to ensure that we are respecting the First Peoples of Victoria by identifying sites of significant Aboriginal cultural heritage on a case-by-case basis. But, again, compulsory acquisition is a last resort. The VSBA is unlikely to acquire land in such a manner.

The development and expansion of early childhood education projects is in the interests of local governments, who in the past of work cooperatively with the state government to expand preschool education programs across Victoria. Some may ask why the government must engage in such land acquisition for the development and expansion of the BSBL program. In the past government has worked hand in hand to ensure land is available for early childhood education and care, but there is a difference between now and then. The government has consulted with relevant key stakeholders to forge the best outcomes, and we think we have done just that. We are in a position to work with the community, the departments and the providers to uphold a vision that promotes universal access to early childhood education and care. We do not mean to, nor is it our intention to, compete against private sector care providers. We simply see areas with insufficient available services and hope to build early learning and care centres to look after those who are currently left behind, filling the gap. We will do so in a manner that is respectful to the traditional owners of the land. We aim to compensate landowners for any compulsory acquisitions through case-by-case negotiation.

I am proud of the vision that the Allan Labor government has and our legacy of delivering affordable early childhood education for families, and this bill will be part of that legacy. It will move us forward and help us push towards a great vision. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:34): I move:

That debate on this bill be adjourned until the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until next day of meeting.