Tuesday, 4 March 2025

Childcare services

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (19:06): (1033) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Children in the other place, and I am calling on her to commit to delivering all of this government’s 50 new childcare facilities before 2032. This government’s inability to deliver these facilities in a timely manner has failed families across our state, particularly those in our regional areas, where child care is so hard to come by. Just last month this government was proud to announce that the first four state-run childcare centres have now opened, but there was no mention of when the remaining 46 will be delivered, if ever. In August 2023 a press release from this government proudly proclaimed that all 50 childcare centres would be delivered by 2028. By May last year a new minister was put in charge and another press release explained that the timeline for the centres had blown out to 2032. 282 days is all it took for this government to set our communities and our families back four years. It has been 291 days since the last announcement, so I am calling for this commitment now in the hope that we will not see these timelines pushed back by another four years.

As things stand, 26 of the 50 facilities still remain without a concrete timeline despite a lack of access to child care being a major concern in all of these communities. That is 26 towns and suburbs full of families that need help. That is 26 towns and suburbs with parents hoping to return to work, hoping to alleviate cost-of-living challenges and hoping to give their children the best start in life – Alexandra, Bendigo South, Casterton, Churchill, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Drouin, Glenroy, Hamilton, Hampton Park, Heidelberg West, Lalor, Lockington, Maffra, Maryborough, Melton West, Mickleham, Portarlington, Reservoir, Rockbank, Roxburgh Park, Warrnambool, Wonthaggi, Woori Yallock, Yallourn North and of course my electorate of Seymour. These communities were promised life-changing childcare centres only to be abandoned by the Allan Labor government as they mismanage yet another budget.

With $14 billion pledged for early childhood education, families deserve more than broken promises. Seymour is one of many towns crying out for child care, while others in the electorate were never even considered. The Mitchell Institute found Benalla had the worst childcare availability in Victoria. In Seymour, Euroa and surrounding areas access is vanishing faster than almost anywhere else in the state. Parents in Nagambie, Avenel and Murchison face a years-long waitlist, and smaller towns have none at all. These are thriving communities, not forgotten backwaters, yet they are being left behind. Families already struggling with the cost of living rely on two incomes, but the childcare crisis is making that impossible. The Allan Labor government cannot manage money. It cannot deliver on its promises, and regional Victorian families are paying the price. This must change.