Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

( — ) ( ): As well as making our childcare system more accessible for those families who rely upon it to undertake their work responsibilities, we want to make sure that people are supported in the most vulnerable categories. That is why we are proposing an $869 million childcare safety net, recognising that vulnerable children and families need extra support to access early learning, care and protection at appropriate times. Similarly, we have committed to ensure that universal access to preschool is extended for a further two years, providing guarantees in line with school funding determinations to provide federal support for 15 hours of preschool a week in the year before school. This was a measure, of course, that the Labor government had left unfunded and had not committed to. We have delivered this funding now over a three-year period to make sure that four-year-olds, in the year before entering school, can be guaranteed to access those 15 hours of early learning opportunities in addition to any childcare activities that their parents access.