THRIVE BY FIVE WELCOMES THE NATIONALS’ CALL FOR GREATER INVESTMENT IN REGIONAL AND REMOTE CHILDCARE
16 May 2023 – Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five
Thrive by Five Director Jay Weatherill said both accessibility and affordability must be tackled to ensure regional children were not left behind.
“We know there’s a crisis in early learning affordability outside our metropolitan centres, with more than half of regional, rural, and remote families unable to access early learning, due to a lack of services and availability,” Mr Weatherill said.
“Children growing up in the country are twice as likely as city children to start school developmentally vulnerable – making it hard for them to catch up.
“Being born in regional Australia shouldn’t disadvantage any Australian child. Every child, regardless of where they live or how much their parents earn, should be able to access high quality early childhood education and care.
“Thrive by Five calls on the Federal Government to prioritise early learning reform in regional areas, including providing more early learning services in rural and remote areas and abolishing the activity test.
“It is time for the Federal Government to take notice of the challenges facing regional families and make a real commitment to investing in their future,” he said.
Thrive by Five Rural and Remote Five Point Plan:
- A dedicated funding model for a sustainable and viable early childhood education and care system in rural and remote communities regardless of location, setting, income or hours.
- Early childhood education and care to become part of the National Cabinet reform agenda to deal with complexities of the system and build a true national universal system.
- A new national agreement to deliver universal three-year-old preschool across the country to match the partnership agreement in place for four-year-old preschool.
- The Child Care Subsidy available to all children regardless of the setting and the income or work status of their parents. Lift the Child Care Subsidy to 95 per cent for all children and set agreed fee caps.
Start workforce planning for universal access and fund appropriate pay and flexible conditions for educators to end the problem of skill shortages, high vacancy rates and high staff turnover rates across the sector.
