Summary of NSW Budget 2022-23

The NSW Treasurer (the Hon Matt Kean MP) officially brought down the NSW Budget 2022-23 yesterday on 21 June 2022.

Due to the announcements already made prior, the NSW Budget primarily consisted of the following in relation to NSW's early childhood education and care sector:

• proposal for an "additional" preschool year by 2030 (see ACA NSW's analysis)
• proposed employer supplements for staff retention (see ACA NSW's analysis)
• new & additional funding for preschool children at long daycare (see ACA NSW's analysis)
• intention to fund the creation of new services in undersupplied areas (see ACA NSW's analysis)

Naturally, from the NSW early childhood education and care sector's perspective, what remain to be articulated/explained include:

• initiatives to streamline/lessen the (operational) burdens on existing educators and teachers?
• where will NSW find the additional 4,700 plus 7,800 more educators and teachers (in addition to the 13,000 educators already need by 2023)?
• how and when will the benefits of early childhood education and care be overtly demonstrated as measurable dividends for school children and their later lives?
• when will the NSW Productivity Commission's White Paper recommendations (#4.6-4.15) be realised for fit-for-purpose laws and regulations as well as the cost-vs-benefits of ratios for the early childhood education and care?
• how will NSW's higher ratios (compared to all other Australian states) benefit children?

For your reference, the following summarises the NSW Budget 2022-23:

1. Universal pre-kindergarten - $5.8b over 10 years
   • Consultation and design beginning in 2022, delivery by 2030
   • Not an additional year of school, but increasing the year-before-school to up to 5 days per week
2. Investing in ECEC workforce - $281.6m over 4 years
   • ECT higher education scholarships of up to $25,000 while studying bachelor-level qualifications
   • Scholarships for VET students of up to $2,000 in addition to existing fee-free pathways for Certificate III and diploma qualifications
   • funding to support staff retentions
3. Affordable and Accessible Childcare and Economic Participation Fund - $5b over 10 years
   • $775m x first 4 years - a new fund to target known barriers to families accessing quality early childhood education and care by providing major incentives to enable providers to extend their services to more families, more affordably. The Fund will be open for applications from 2023 (including establishing an independent expert panel to facilitate and award successful bidders)
   • Commission IPART to review the NSW sector
4. Affordable Preschool - $1.4b over 4 years for fee relief, plus $64.1m over 2 years for funding support
   • Up to $2,000/year/child for 4-5 year old children in eligible preschool programs in long daycare services
   • Funding via 2 year trial to support increasing the number of 3-year-olds in long daycare preschool programs
   • End of COVID free preschools and replaced by (traditional) fee relief for children in community/mobile preschools
   • 5 days/fortnight affordable preschool in NSW Department of Education's preschools
5. Brighter Beginnings - $376.5m over 4 years from 2023
   • $111.2m - introducing health and developmental checks
   • $98.7m - supporting existing Aboriginal Child and Family Centres and building 6 new centres
   • $70.9m - expanding Sustaining NSW Families
   • $57.2m - developing the Digital Baby Book (ie an electronic version to the hardcopy NSW Blue Book)
   • $38.6m - expanding Pregnancy Family Conferencing

For any further information/clarification, members can contact ACA NSW via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

PUBLISHED: 22 JUNE 2022