THRIVE BY FIVE CALLS FOR GUARANTEE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN INCLUDING $10 A DAY CAP FOR THREE DAYS OF QUALITY EARLY LEARNING
15 November 2023 – Australian families should have their right to high-quality early learning enshrined in legislation, with children guaranteed three days of high-quality early learning each week capped at $10 per day, according to the nation’s leading early childhood advocates.
Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign has joined children’s advocates, early education experts, parents and educators to call for new laws to ensure no child is locked out of Australia’s learning system based on their postcode or their family’s circumstances.
Minderoo Foundation’s Jay Weatherill said too many families were being left behind because Australia’s early learning and childcare system was confusing, inaccessible and unaffordable.
He urged Federal, state and territory governments to pass laws that would create a guarantee for every Australian child and family:
- High-quality, universally accessible early childhood education and care (ECEC);
- Universal and free access to maternal and child health care;
- Two years of preschool in the years before school; and
- More generous paid parental leave with better flexibility for all Australian children and families.
This desperately needed reform would ensure that all families and children across Australia could access the life-changing benefits of high-quality early learning, regardless of their circumstances.
It would help with cost of living; give children the head start they need and allow parents – especially women – to return to work.
“For too long the early childhood education and development system has been too complex, too expensive and has fundamentally failed the needs of modern families,” Mr Weatherill said.
“Let’s simplify support in the early years – every Australian parent should not pay more than $10 a day for three days a week of quality early childhood education and care.
“A $10 a day childcare guarantee would underpin the development of children, return money to parent’s wallets and support greater workforce participation and economic growth.
“The Thrive by Five Early Childhood Guarantee could go a long way towards delivering on the goal of making Australia one of the best places in the world to raise children and help address ongoing workforce shortages, including in the early learning sector itself.”
This early childhood entitlement would be aligned with what is described as in the Starting Better Report, with the entitlement referred to as a ‘Guarantee for Young Children and Families’.
Recent polling conducted by Essential Research for The Parenthood found a shift to a $10 a day cap for three days of early learning would allow many parents of children under six (43 per cent) to return to work sooner and help nearly half of them to take on extra shifts (49 per cent).
Brief on Thrive by Five Early Childhood Guarantee (Universal access to early childhood services and benefits) Bill 2024 can be accessed here:
https://thrivebyfive.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TB5-2310-Legislation-background-FINAL-APPROVED-1.pdf
Starting Better Report can be accessed here:
https://cpd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CPD-Starting-Better-Report.pdf
Parent Polling: How childcare costs affect parent choices here:
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/theparenthood/pages/1004/attachments/original/1698310980/Parenthood_Parents_Poll_Oct_2023_%281%29-1.pdf?1698310980
Interviews with Jay Weatherill available.
Written quotes from the following organisations available on request:
Royal Far West
Australian Multiple Births Association
Welcoming Australia
SNAICC – The Voice of Our Children
Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA)
Life Without Barriers
ARACY
