Tuesday, 31 October 2023

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:06): (539) My adjournment is for the Minister for Children Minister Blandthorn. Two weeks ago I had the honour of representing the minister at the official reopening of the Rowen Street Kindergarten in the suburb of Glen Iris. Thanks to the Andrews–Allan Labor governments, Rowen Street Kindergarten received $180,000 in the 2021–22 Building Blocks inclusion grants program. The funding contributed to an upgrade of the outdoor environment and modern landscaping to make it more inclusive for children and their families and to better reflect the beautiful surrounding environment of the electorate of Hawthorn. I want to thank the previous member for Hawthorn John Kennedy, who I know the people of Hawthorn dearly miss, for his work in getting this done.

Inclusive education is defined by the Victorian government as an education system where all members of every school community are valued and supported to fully participate, learn, develop and succeed within an inclusive school culture. There cannot be a one-size-fits-all system. That is why over the next decade we are transforming our education system. Since last year every three-year-old has had free access to 5 hours of kindergarten a week, and by 2029 that will extend to 15 hours. I have six children, so I know a bit about young kids, even though it has been a while since I attended a kinder. But there is something that I do have in common with my kids: we all grew up watching Play School, a show that launched when I was two years old. Have you ever wondered why it is called Play School? As another childhood educator – you may have heard of him – Fred Rogers once said, ‘Play gives children a chance to practise what they are learning.’ By giving children an opportunity and the space to productively play, we are giving them a safe place to learn and grow. The evidence is clear: we know that children who start kindergarten early in life at age three gain academic and social benefits that last into their school years and set them up for life. Until now Australian kinder has been funded from the age of four. Imagine the change that introducing it a year earlier will make for the next generation.

On top of all of that, there are flow-on benefits to our community, like having more early childhood educator jobs and thousands of dollars being saved in household budgets from not needing child care. Across the state we are expanding and building thousands of kinders into the next decade. This year’s budget alone allocated almost half a billion dollars over five years to get this done. The deputy mayor of Boroondara Lisa Hollingsworth is a passionate advocate for kinders, and there is a great one in her ward, Fordham Avenue Kinder. That is why my adjournment to the minister is: will the minister join me and the deputy mayor on a visit to Fordham Avenue Kinder to thank the staff for the amazing work that they do?