Thrive by Five welcomes Tasmanian Government investment in children’s wellbeing
3 September 2021 – Thrive by Five congratulates Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein on a $100 million commitment to child and youth wellbeing.
The Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy will nurture children in the first three years of life. Initiatives include out of home care programs, maternal health programs and rural and regional children’s programs.
Thrive by Five CEO Jay Weatherill welcomed the Tasmanian State Budget investment saying that the early years were crucial and encouraged Premier Gutwein to continue investment in Australia’s children by advocating to the Federal Government.
“The first five years are critical for brain development and forming connections. It’s pleasing to see state governments recognising that and arming children and parents with access to services they need to lead healthy, happy lives.
“We would love to see additional investment in Tasmanian children through early learning and childcare services including a three-year-old preschool policy and improved pay and conditions for early childhood educators. Only 71 per cent of Tasmanian early learning and childcare services meet the National Quality Standards.
“We also still need to see reform on a national level. We would encourage the Tasmanian Government to advocate to the Federal Government for Australia-wide high quality, universally accessible and affordable early learning and childcare so that every child can have their best start to life,” Mr Weatherill said.
Thrive by Five has a Five Point Plan for National Cabinet:
- Agree to a Federal-State agreement to deliver universal three-year-old preschool across the country to match the partnership agreement in place for four-year-old preschool.
- Lift the childcare subsidy to 95% for all children and set agreed fee caps.
- Make the childcare subsidy available to all children regardless of the setting and the income or work status of the parents.
- Start workforce planning for a universal system and fund appropriate pay and conditions for educators to end the problem of skill shortages, high vacancy rates and high staff turnover rates across the sector.
- To achieve these outcomes, we ask that early education and childcare become a part of the National Cabinet reform agenda to deal with complexities of the system and build a true national universal system.
