Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Early childhood education and care is so important for children's development and for so many other benefits that our society derives from it. The motion that my colleague the member for Adelaide has moved today recognises that.

Some of those wonderful community benefits that are obtained from early childhood education and care are obvious when you visit community kindergartens, preschools and childcare centres that all provide kindy programs. For example, in the last few months I have visited so many kindies in my local area, such as the Camp Hill kindy, the Harty Street kindy, the Scott Street kindy, Bulimba kindy's AGM, Holland Park kindy, Malcolm Street kindy and Cannon Hill kindy to see some of the amazing work that the teachers and parent volunteers are doing there for early childhood education and care.

Of course, the benefits are not just borne out on the faces of the kids, the parents and the teachers; international research demonstrates some of the benefits of early childhood education and care. As my colleague the member for Adelaide said, the OECD's Education at a glance 2014:OECD indicators states:

A growing body of research recognises that ECEC—

that is, early childhood education and care—

brings a wide range of benefits, including social and economic benefits; better child well-being and learning outcomes; more equitable outcomes and reduction of poverty; increased intergenerational social mobility; higher female labour market participation and gender equality; increased fertility rates; and better social and economic development for society at large.

The decision by all jurisdictions to agree on the 15 hours of early childhood education in the year before school was made in reliance on a study called 'Effective Provision of Preschool Education,' which found that attending preschool for 15 hours a week had significant positive gains in cognitive development. An Oxford University study has been tracking the progress of 3,000 English children since 1997, which found that up to two years of quality preschool was pushing up school test scores for 16-year-olds by 51 points.

There is so much evidence in support of the need for quality early childhood education and care. That is why I am so proud that Labor has worked so hard over many years to promote preschool education. In fact, if you read Gough Whitlam's 1969 election speech, one of the commitments that was made in that speech was to preschool education being available for all children, and of course he repeated that in 1972. More recently, Labor in 2008 worked very hard to bring about universal access funding for preschool and kindergarten. Previously, just 12 per cent of Australian children received those 15 hours or more of quality education in the year before school. In 2012 that figure had risen to over 56 per cent, so there has been a sharp increase in participation in early childhood education and care in the year before school for Australian children. It is highly valued by parents. Funding for this universal access to education is so highly valued by parents that they have been making really clear, through some of the work that has been done through the parents group The Parenthood, just how important this funding, and early childhood education and care, is for them. Of course, The Parenthood worked very hard to try to bring to this government's attention the importance of early childhood education.

As you know, quite regrettably, the Abbott government's first budget did not commit to funding for early access into 2015. Groups like The Parenthood campaigned very strongly on that issue and I know that, for example, The Parenthood arranged for thousands of emails to be sent to the government. There was a letter-writing campaign, a postcards campaign and personal letters sent to ministers and consequently, unfortunately belatedly, on 5 September, the assistant minister announced that there was now agreement to extend universal access funding into 2015. That is fine insofar as it goes, but it is only a 12-month extension. Parents and educators want certainty about what is going to happen to the 15 hours of universal access funding. That is certainly the case in my local area, and it seems to be the case nationally as well. We know that the Productivity Commission's draft report contained a recommendation to the government to continue to provide that funding for those 15 hours a week. What we need to see from this government is a commitment for ongoing support for the universal access funding, and that is why I am pleased to rise to support this motion today.

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