Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are fewer and fewer communities these days that do not have some sort of access to long day care child care services. Unfortunately Boorowa, in my electorate, has been one of them. There is a great little pre-school there, Boorowa pre-school, which is doing a wonderful job, but there is no long day care. It is well known that families with access to long day care have more choice. That is why the federal government is so keen to support the child care sector and support regional families like those in my electorate of Hume. We have announced $50,000 in capital works funding to start the process of converting Boorowa pre-school into a long day care centre. Under the Long Day Care Capital Funding Exceptional Circumstances Grant Program, the preschool will be able to move forward with planning and design and engage the services of a suitably qualified architect. I have visited the Boorowa Preschool Centre recently and have heard first hand, just earlier today in fact, from committee president, Sarah Rose, on the first steps. The committee is ready to appoint an architect, and the overall rebuild, to almost triple the size of the existing facilities, is estimated at approximately $600,000 and will involve converting the current preschool building into a facility for babies and adding additional rooms for two- to three-year-olds and older children.

I congratulate the parent committee for its determination in seeing the capital works funding application through to approval.