An elected Coalition Government will establish a new Raising the Regions Program to deliver flexible and innovative approaches to early childhood education and care in childcare deserts; regional and rural areas where there is limited or no supply.
Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan said that the funding was imperative for the regions, particularly the electorate of Cowper.
“Every day I receive feedback from constituents desperate to get their children into care in order to get back to work,” Mr Conaghan said.
“We have centres that have waiting lists of over 300 families, and parents who are driving from areas like Kempsey to Port Macquarie in order to access care, adding hours to their day, not to mention the cost of petrol. And those are the lucky ones able to get a place at all.
“Then there are those frontline workers who are splitting shifts to look after each others’ children. These are the people we desperately need in our community, our nurses and police officers. While the child care rebates are of course appreciated, they are irrelevant if families can’t get access care in the first place. We need to be providing viable solutions to child care accessibility in Cowper, and the Raising the Regions Program is a critical step in the right direction.”
Leader of The Nationals, the Hon David Littleproud MP, said the Coalition understands the complexities of delivering early childhood education and care in rural and regional Australia, and the importance of creating more choice and flexibility for families and service providers.
“We know that regional, rural and remote communities in Australia have little to no access to childcare. We also know that long day care models of early childhood education doesn’t always work for these communities, which have far fewer children and families spread across vast geographies,” Mr Littleproud said.
“We will provide a significant investment of $100 million to deliver solutions for communities who have been forgotten by Anthony Albanese and the Labor Government.
“Labor’s policies have completely neglected this reality. The guarantee of childcare three days a week means absolutely nothing if you live in a community where you can’t even get one day a week.”
Under the Coalition’s commitment, funding will be available to support expansion of existing successful and fully staffed services or the set up of flexible alternatives to the long-day care model, with potential models including;
- Allowing family day care educators to run care out of a community space, such as a town hall or library;
- Delivery in nature, such as bush kindy;
- Mobile day care; or
- Employer-supported models in workplaces.
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Ms Angie Bell MP, said the Coalition was committed to giving every child in regional Australia access to quality early learning, regardless of where they live.
“Over the last three years, Labor has failed to meaningfully address issues around quality, affordability or access. Labor’s policies on childcare have been full of spin and empty promises,” Ms Bell said.
“Families and children living in regional Australia deserve better. We must create greater flexibility in early childhood education and care models so that children can have the best start in life and primary carers can re-enter the workforce should they choose to.
“This is part of our plan for regional Australia, which includes the establishment of the Regional Australia Future Fund. One of the initial key priorities for this Fund will be delivering flexible childcare solutions for families in regional, rural and remote areas”.
ENDS.
