Early Childhood Education can be a complex policy space, but one part of it is very simple - the benefits of a quality early childhood education and how important it is for our children. Like you, I am passionate about providing opportunities for our children to succeed but I know the success of the early childhood sector is only possible because of the incredible workforce. I thank all ACA NSW members for the role you play in building a better tomorrow by educating the children of our state.

I am proud to be the second Minister for Early Childhood Education in this state’s history. This government created this stand-alone ministry because we know how important it is. I am also proud of what we have achieved so far. There is plenty of work to do but together we can get it done.

Since the Liberals & Nationals came into government, we have invested more into early childhood education than ever before. In 2010-11 the budget under Labor was $212 million. In the 2018-19 Budget, the Liberals & Nationals invested $474 million.

The sector is aware that this government’s signature policy Start Strong was announced in 2016 and the NSW Government remains committed to linking needs-based funding to 600 hours of enrolment in the year before school to increase levels of participation. Through Start Strong we made the single biggest investment in the State’s history in early childhood education.

As a mother, I have seen first-hand how much my daughters have benefited from Long Day Care (LDC) and Community Preschool services. I am grateful for the service options that are available to parents in NSW. In 2017 and 2018 tens of millions in payments have been distributed to eligible LDC services across the state through the Start Strong Long Day Care program as a result of the Universal Access National Partnership arrangements.

LDC services receive between $300 - $1300 per child, depending on circumstances, to improve education outcomes and support children in the year before school. The Commonwealth Government has recently confirmed a one year extension of the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education for 2019 and the NSW Government will continue to support children accessing a quality early childhood education in a LDC setting in the year before school.

We’ve worked hard to ensure there is equitable support across the board. Each year the Commonwealth subsidises NSW childcare around $2.5 billion through Child Care Subsidies.

The Australian Government recurrent expenditure on child care services in NSW was on average $5,693 in 2017/18. Under Start Strong per child funding for community preschools over the same period was on average $5,540. We know there is more we can do for both LDC and community preschools and a Liberals & Nationals government will work with the sector to keep delivering.

Our children aren’t going to make the most of all the opportunities we’ve helped to create in early childhood education unless they participate. Over our time in Government, we have seen participation rates in the year before school increase from 56% to over 80%. When it comes to participation in 600hrs for the year before school, according to the most recent Report on Government Services, 93.2 per cent of NSW enrolments were for 15 hrs a week in a preschool program. This is an 8.3 percentage point increase from the 2016 rate. This represented the greatest increase of any Australian state or territory.

The Liberals & Nationals understand how important a well-supported workforce is. That is why we have invested more than $4.5 million in a range of professional development opportunities to strengthen and support early childhood educators. Last year we announced our Early Childhood Education Workforce strategy. This strategy includes the development of a sector-wide online, professional development portal, online study options, and redeveloping diploma modules to transition more smoothly to bachelor level as well as review of scholarships programs. We have allocated a further $6 million dollars to ensure that our state’s educators are equipped to teach our children in our rapidly changing world.

Children with disability and additional learning needs deserve to participate in quality early childhood education programs on the same basis as their peers. In 2017-2018 the government announced $30m in continued funding to enhance participation and education outcomes for children with disability and additional learning needs in early childhood education. Additional training and professional development opportunities have also been provided to educators to continue to build workforce capability to support children with disability and additional needs.

As a working mother, I understand the pressures placed on families. We’re determined to further support families by providing more places in before and after school care centres right across the state. The $20 million Before and After School Care Fund supported working families by establishing new out of school hours care services in government and non-government primary school communities. We have increased the net number of approved Before and After School Care places by more than 62,000 since March 2015. The NSW Liberals & Nationals will continue to look at ways we can improve the convenience for parents and work with services to offer greater flexibility so parents can utilise OSHC services where they wish to do so.

We have improved the overall quality of the services we provide in NSW. We have both the highest proportion of all services (34%) and the highest proportion of services with a quality rating (96%). I’d like to thank the hard work and tireless efforts of the whole workforce, because boosting quality matters and improvements require effort. The Quality Support Program in partnership with ACECQA is assisting 150 services in Long Day Care and Family Day Care and I’m happy to let you know that a further $2.5 million will enable even more services to access the assistance and guidance they need to increase their quality and rating under the National Quality Standard over the next financial year.

Looking forward, securing longer-term certainty from the Commonwealth around the next UANP continues to be a priority for me and this Government. NSW has lead the country in funding early childhood education for two years and we want to bring the Commonwealth with us. I will keep up that fight.

Under our government:

• •Participation is up
• •The number of children receiving 600 hours preschool is up
• •There has never been more investment in early childhood education
• •NSW is leading the Nation on two years of quality childhood education
• •The quality of services is up

We have come a long way, and there’s more to be done should we be given the opportunity. I look forward to working with you to achieve the very best for our children.