Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

We have just heard a whole matter of public importance response by the Minister for Education, Science and Training—the minister responsible for education in this country—but not one word about early childhood education or preschool education, even though the OECD report released overnight demonstrates that Australia gets the wooden spoon when it comes to the delivery of preschool education.

It is extraordinary that the minister for education said not one word about preschool education when, a little over a year ago—in March last year—the minister got a great headline on the front page of the Australian, ‘Preschool plan for all four-year-olds’. She trumpeted that she was about to force all four-year-olds into formal preschool education under a plan, to be delivered by her, for a nationwide program to educate youngsters before school. The article states:

Ms Bishop wants all Australian children to receive the education through a preschool or an accredited childcare centre with trained staff.

That is what the minister for education said in March last year.

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