Thursday, 20 November 2025

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (22:31): (2164) My adjournment is to the Minister for Children. As the minister may be aware, the City of Greater Bendigo is growing rapidly and the population is expected to grow from 125,000 people to around 172,000 by 2046. The 2025–29 council plan highlights the importance of children and young people thriving and ensuring that all children are nurtured to grow, play and learn. According to the Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plan for the Bendigo region developed by the Department of Education and Training and local government, in recent years there have been identified shortfalls in funded kindergarten places across several key areas, including Bendigo North, Bendigo South, California Gully, Eaglehawk, East Bendigo, Kennington and Kangaroo Flat–Golden Square. These findings clearly demonstrate the growing demand for early childhood education services and the need for new facilities to meet future population growth and family needs. Forecasts for the zero- to four-year-old age group for the City of Greater Bendigo show a 6 per cent growth rate every five years, with 1046 additional places needed between now and 2036 to meet demand. According to the City of Greater Bendigo’s Early Years Infrastructure Framework, despite recent investments in early years facilities, many of the city’s older facilities are no longer fit for purpose. The majority of the city’s owned or managed facilities are more than 38 years old, and there is a limit to how long the buildings will remain suitable for early years provision. These facilities also require significant financial investment for maintenance. Further investment is needed to support the region’s early years infrastructure planning.

Connect Church in Bendigo have an established local presence and contacted me about their interest in providing a long day childcare centre for children up to six years old in the Greater Bendigo area. They have undertaken a considerable amount of work developing a plan to deliver early childhood programs in the Greater Bendigo area to provide local families with greater access to high-quality early years education closer to home. The vision is to renovate an existing building to establish a 76-place long day childcare centre that caters for children from zero to six. It will offer child care for working families, for parents who are studying or looking for work and for those families who need respite care and wish for their child to be engaged in play with peers of a similar age in a social environment. This initiative to develop a kindergarten also aligns directly with the priorities outlined in the Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plan for the Bendigo region. Establishing an additional service in one of the identified shortfall regions would help address the current capacity gap. As the minister would be aware, the first five years of life are foundational for children’s learning and development as they grow, learn and develop new skills. Quality care and education in the early years also lead to better health, education and employment outcomes in later life. The action I seek is for the minister to consider the growing population needs of Greater Bendigo and support the need for further investment in early years infrastructure. I would be pleased to coordinate a meeting to provide the minister with additional information about this project.