Thursday, 3 April 2025

Oakleigh electorate early childhood education

Steve DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh – Minister for Environment, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (10:04): It is a pleasure to rise and talk about the wonderful work that kinders do in the great electorate of Oakleigh. I continue a tradition that my predecessor Ann Barker had where she would provide a chocolate Easter hamper or a voucher to every kinder in the electorate to give them an opportunity to raise money by selling raffle tickets to win either the voucher or the basket of chocolate goodies.

But this is just really a way of recognising the extraordinary work kinders do. They have a whole community around them. They are aggregators, but at the fundamental level there are parents who care, teachers who care, staff who care and helpers and volunteers who are extraordinary. The kids are amazing of course. I had the pleasure this year of providing, again, every kinder with the opportunity to do a raffle around an Easter hamper. I delivered Easter hampers to St Patrick’s kinder, which this government has invested in, and Germain Street kinder in Oakleigh, just two of the many kinders we have in the electorate. I want to acknowledge all the work they do.

This government’s enormous commitment – and the federal government – to three-year-old kinder means more kids have greater opportunities because of that investment. We are basically adding more ballast to the work of the volunteers and everybody around the kinder community in Victoria but particularly in my electorate.