Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

Every parent understands and knows the value of early childhood education. I've seen with our kids the cognitive development, the foundational skills and social skills that are developed in a child when they get access to early education and structured teaching at an early age. We in the Labor Party understand the value of the skills, the hard work and the dedication of those early childhood educators who are providing that foundational education for our kids in so many settings and centres throughout the country.

We all know that unfortunately in Australia at the moment our educational attainment and results for particularly primary school and high school kids are failing. We are going backwards when it comes to international comparisons of literacy and numeracy outcomes for Australian kids. We, as legislators, as members of parliament, have an obligation to look at those results, to analyse them and to say that we're not doing well enough in education, particularly in those foundational years of early education.

What has this government's response been to this developing crisis in education in Australia? We all know that they've failed to provide the necessary funding to ensure and guarantee that four-year-olds get access to a program that guarantees that vital early childhood education regardless of where they live and their parents' income. This is a program that has long been funded in partnership between the Commonwealth and the states. When you look at this year's budget paper you see the commitment of this government and this minister to early childhood education and the funding for the four-year-old preschool program, when you look at the figures in the forward estimates. From 2017-18 all the way through to 2021-22 there is nothing but zeroes—nothing but zeroes in terms of the dollars that this government is going to devote to the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education.

Labor will act in the interests of children. Where this government refuses to guarantee that funding, Labor will act. Not only will Labor act to guarantee funding for four-year-olds; we will extend this program to all three-year-olds so that they get very important and vital access to those early childhood educational years. I want to congratulate and I also want to thank the member for Kingston for the wonderful work that she's done over the course of the last 12 months in developing this policy announcement. If we are elected at the next election and we get the opportunity to implement this program, it will go down in history as one of the most important and fundamental reforms to early childhood and Australian education in our nation's history.

I know that the member for Kingston has done the hard policy yards, consulting with parents, educators and experts in framing this policy. It's a great policy and something that Labor is very proud of. We will commit to permanent ongoing funding to the national preschool and kindy program for all four-year-olds. We will extend that program, right throughout the country, to all three-year-olds, commencing from 2021. We will establish a $100 million facilitation fund to expand capacity where required. We will ensure preschools and early education centres are high quality and safe by restoring the $20 million safety and quality framework that was cut by the Liberals. That is the commitment of the Labor Party. That is how much Labor cherishes education and ensuring that our kids get the best opportunity and best start in life through those foundational early childhood and preschool years.

We will even go further, because Labor understands the value and the skills of those early childhood educators. A couple of weeks ago the member for Kingston, as the shadow minister, announced that Labor would also scrap up-front fees for 10,000 early education students studying at TAFE, boosting the early education workforce throughout the country and finally recognising the value, the emotional support and the social skills that go with early childhood educators.

We will also work in partnership with the states to ensure that they're in a position to fund these programs so they can be rolled out across the nation. That is Labor's commitment to the parents and to the young people of Australia. Where this government refuses to act, Labor not only will act to restore that funding but will boost it and extend it to three-year-olds throughout the country.

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