Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:44): I rise to update the house on how the Allan Labor government is continuing to build and expand kindergartens right across the state, with this year’s budget delivering even more investment for Victorian families. Last week I joined a member for Eastern Victoria Mr McIntosh to celebrate two fantastic projects that our government is delivering for communities in South Gippsland: Mirboo North Primary School Kindergarten and Early Learning Victoria Meeniyan.

From next year children in Mirboo North will have access to a brand new kindergarten that will be co-located with the local primary school, supporting a smooth transition to prep and allowing busy parents to do a single drop-off. In Meeniyan our government will deliver a new Early Learning Victoria centre, with capacity for up to 57 local children each day. The centre will provide three- and four-year-old kindergarten – free kindergarten – as well as long day care and will include space for other services and support such as maternal and child health, allied health and playgroups. Early Learning Victoria Meeniyan will be a government owned and operated centre and will be open for term 1 next year.

In addition to these brand new facilities, from next year our government will be delivering additional hours of free kinder for children living in Mirboo North, Meeniyan and across the area with the continued rollout of additional hours of four-year-old kindergarten. These children will have access to between 16 and 20 hours of play-based learning each week.

That is not all. In this year’s budget we are investing almost $500 million to deliver again more kindergartens, more Early Learning Victoria centres, and new and expanded kindergartens on other sites. We are also investing a further $9.8 million to provide Building Blocks improvement and inclusion grants to support services to upgrade and refurbish their learning spaces and foster inclusive environments for children of all abilities. As a government, we have now delivered more than $3.8 billion in investment to build, expand and upgrade kindergartens and early learning centres right across the state. We are doing this because we know that every child deserves the chance to learn, play and grow in a great local kindergarten. Every child deserves the best start in life.