Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to seek further clarification from the minister for education regarding investment in our children's education. I want to start my comments by quoting the great Sir Robert Menzies, who in addressing a Parents and Citizens Association conference in 1964 said:

Our great function when we approach the problem of education is to equalise opportunity to see that every boy and girl has a chance to develop whatever faculties he or she may have, because this will be a tremendous contribution to the good life for the nation.

I'd like to commend the minister for education and the work that he is doing to back in this great Menzian tradition, in particular when I talk about early childhood education. As a paediatrician and a mother of four, I was absolutely delighted that the minister for education came to my electorate of Higgins to make the announcement about $2 billion of funding over the next four years for this very purpose. He came to the Estrella Preschool in my electorate of Higgins to make this very, very important announcement. We all know that these significant reforms will help make Australian children better prepared for their first year of school. As a mum and as a paediatrician, I know how important those first 1,000 days of life are, not just for the health and wellbeing of children but for their brain development. We know that those early years are so important for getting right the approach that they have to school; their openness, their curiosity, their excitement about the challenges of education are so incredibly important. We know that preparing our children well for the first year of school life means that they're better prepared for their educational future, and that means our nation is better prepared for the future with regard to these children going on to have jobs.

The Morrison government is unlocking $2 billion of opportunity because it's so important that this sector has a process going forward that's going to enable it to have guaranteed funding for all stages of education in Australia. There are three aspects of this new reform and funding that are incredibly important. The first is that the $1,340 per child is given regardless of whether they attend kinder, preschool or a preschool program in a centre based day care. That provides opportunity and choice, so that families are in control of what they do to provide education for their children. I really welcome this, and this has already been rolled out in my home state of Victoria with great success. The second aspect that's very important is participation. The current universal access national partnership gives children access to 600 hours per year. That is already benefitting 350,000 children. What this new program is doing is giving, in the forward estimates, four years of funding, so for the first time in our history the Commonwealth is funding preschools in forward estimates, not just on an annual basis. This is incredibly important for the sector. It means that there will be 12,000 preschool services that will benefit. While we've seen the number of eligible children enrolled in preschool increase from 12 per cent in 2008 to 96 per cent in 2019, only 72 per cent of children make full use of the available hours. What is really important about this new reform is that the Commonwealth will work with states and territories to develop and implement these preschool outcome measures to ensure that we have excellent attendance. This is based on children in places not only where they have advantage but also where perhaps they're less well advantaged. We know, for instance, that attendance rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are only 60 per cent, and disadvantaged children have an attendance rate of only 66 per cent. We know from Closing the Gap that this is an incredibly important target that we need to work on with the states and territories, to ensure that we close the gap not only for Indigenous families and children but also for those less advantaged.

Commonwealth funding for preschools will grow from $453 million in 2021-22 to $520 million in 2024-25. Will the minister please update us on how the Morrison government is investing in Australian children and their education, including for kids in my electorate, so that we can make sure that education is a force for good, a force for equity and a force for change?

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