Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate all involved in the extensions to the Culcairn Early Childhood Centre, which I attended yesterday. It is a great example of all levels of government working together to help local communities provide the essential services they need. The federal coalition invested $40,000 towards the project through the National Stronger Regions Fund. Importantly, the upgrade allows the centre to nearly double its enrolment from 22 to 40 day-care places—preschool, after-school and long day care, put together with different sets of arrangements depending on who is there and how it is all brought together on the day.

It is absolutely vital that we continue to have that flexibility in child care in rural and regional Australia. The issues of access and affordability, which matter so much to parents around the country, only become relevant if you have actually got a service that you can attend and that service is there where you need it either for your work or for your child's early learning. Is very important both for the children who benefit from incredibly high-quality early learning in a small country town and for the parents, who are able to participate in the workforce or in education and therefore bring much needed dollars and advancement to their families and to their communities.

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