THRIVE BY FIVE WELCOMES LABOR ELECTION COMMITMENT TO GIVE CHILDREN THE BEST START IN LIFE
5 March 2021 – The Thrive by Five campaign has welcomed a WA election commitment by Labor to boost early learning and literacy across Western Australia.
If re-elected the McGowan Government would:
- invest $14.5 million into programs that give children a head start in early learning and literacy;
- expand the Better Beginnings literacy program to the Kimberley and Pilbara regions so children in remote areas can access developmentally appropriate books and other resources; and
- deliver funding for a new state-wide Creative Schools WA program to help children learn in creative ways.
Thrive by Five CEO Jay Weatherill congratulated WA Labor for heeding the growing community calls for greater government investment in the early learning system.
“The momentum is building for creating a better early learning system for children, parents, educators and the Australian economy, especially as we recover from the Covid crisis,” he said.
“The community wants leaders to stop playing politics with the development of our nation’s most valuable asset – our children. We need a bipartisan approach to fix the system and I congratulate Premier McGowan for taking leadership, particularly in improving opportunities in regional WA.
“The early years have a profound impact on brain development and are critical for lifelong learning and wellbeing.
“Wherever they live across WA or across the nation, every child deserves access to high quality, universally accessible and affordable early learning and care.”
It comes after Mr Weatherill last month welcomed an election commitment by the WA Liberals to boost early childhood education across Western Australia.
The policy announcement, made by WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup, includes:
- $30 million for an additional ten (10) Child and Parent Centres, providing an integrated one-stop-shop for WA families to access a range of early childhood development programmes, services and advice.
- An additional $8 million trial program to expand the Department of Education’s Language Outreach Service to offer face-to-face speech pathology support for students and teachers within selected government primary schools.
- The development of a WA Play Based Learning Strategy to highlight the importance of play, particularly in the early years, alongside other evidence-based learning practices.
Editor’s note: Read Thrive by Statement on WA Liberals early childhood education election commitment here.
