Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Our childcare system is universally accessible. It is universally accessible on a range of levels. Firstly, in the provision of preschool opportunity for children, not only has our government continuously worked with the states and territories to ensure that there is universal access and right to attend preschool services but we continue to try to work with the states and territories to better benchmark attendance at those preschool services. Far too often, the reports we get back are about enrolment in preschool but fail to address the gap in attendance, where often the most vulnerable children who will most benefit from attendance are the ones least likely to be attending. The work that our government sought to do has been to engage states and territories to try to ensure the funding we provide for the delivery of preschool services gets to the children who need it most and delivers them the support that they deserve in terms of being at child care, being at preschool and getting that educational opportunity that they will benefit from.