Royal Far West welcomes NSW government’s $5 billion investment to break the childcare drought
14 June 2022 – Royal Far West has today welcomed the enormous $5 billion investment by theNSW Government to expand access to high quality, affordable early childhood education and care system.
Royal Far West CEO Jacqui Emery said, children and parents outside metropolitan centres are the most at risk of suffering from poor access to early learning and would benefit from the new investment.
“The $5 billion for early childhood education and care announced today is an incredible opportunity to give children and families in rural and remote communities access to early learning in the crucial early years,” she said.
“Early learning and childcare outcomes for young children should not be determined by where they live in Australia, but currently children living in rural and remote areas of Australia are twice as likely to start school developmentally vulnerable than city kids.
“It’s welcome that the new fund will ‘target areas with limited access to childcare centres or where a shortage of childcare places poses the highest disincentive to parents returning to work’.
“The Perrottet Government has shown early learning is a bipartisan issue and other states should follow NSW’s lead with ambitious investment in early childhood education and care.
“Australian governments working together can help reach the goal of accessible, high-quality and more affordable early learning for every child.
“Affordable and accessible early learning supports parents, still mainly women, to return to work and participate more fully in the workforce and results in better outcomes for children. We know it works, now we need political leaders across the country to make it happen,” Ms Emery said.
