Education Minister Yvette Berry and Chief Minister Andrew Barr. The expansion will need more qualified early childhood educators. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
Labor will double free preschool hours for three-year-olds to 600 a year if re-elected on 19 October, but it won’t happen until 2028.
Education Minister Yvette Berry said the move to double the three-year-old preschool program would mean families would be able to access 15 hours a week, the same as for four-year-olds, and save them about $2600 a year.
Labor will also work with the sector to roll out supervised before and after preschool care at public preschools for four-year-olds.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Labor was addressing issues that have been raised with the government around the practicalities of early childhood education and care.
“But importantly, consistently recognising that public investment here delivers long-term community benefits, better outcomes for families, better outcomes for the children, and better societal outcomes,” he said.
Ms Berry said Labor would invest $27 million in the preschool initiatives, including $5 million for out-of-hours care. This is on top of the $50 million over four years announced in the 2023 Budget.
However, the sector would need time to build the qualified workforce required to accommodate the extra free care.
“We don’t want families to miss out, which means that we need to work with the sector to build a pipeline of qualified early childhood educators,” she said.
“That’s why the doubling of the to 15 hours per week isn’t happening until 2028.”
The Albanese Government securing a 15 per cent wage rise for early childhood educators would help to grow the workforce, Ms Berry said.
She said the extra out-of-hours care would give more flexibility to working parents so they would not have to pick up their child from preschool at a particular time.
“We’ve heard really clearly from parents that they need that flexibility so that they can go to work, and so we’re going to work with out-of-school-hours providers to make sure that that’s a sustainable program,” Ms Berry said.
Ms Berry noted that 140 centres were participating in the preschool program and that Labor was providing opportunities for other centres to come on board.
The goal was free universal preschool, and eventually, Labor would like to expand it to 30 hours a week.
“That’s the ideal number of hours for a child’s development, for them to get the best out of it,” Ms Berry said.
“That’s what the Productivity Commission recommended.”
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