Thursday, 20 February 2025

Kindergarten funding

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:47): (1439) My adjournment is to the Minister for Education. The action I seek, Minister, is for you to fast-track the free kinder program for three- and four-year-old children who would be using both standalone sessional services and long day care and childcare services, which the government continues to promote but which many, particularly in the City of Casey, are missing out on altogether.

I have been contacted by concerned constituents, parents in my electorate, with distressing stories of children who have missed out on getting their three- and four-year-old children into kindergartens. The numbers that are missing out are estimated to be 400 in just the City of Casey alone, so I am concerned for other parts of the south-east and throughout Victoria. If you are watching this and you are one of my constituents, please contact me. If you live in my region, share your stories and your concerns. Apparently some kinders have been forced to make space for three-year-old kinder enrolments, which now means there are not enough opportunities for four-year-olds to be able to get into kinder – so no kinder before they go to school.

We have heard a lot of hot air in this chamber from this Labor government, but when you actually visit their website you will find that it is by 2036 that all children in Victoria will have access to 1800 hours of funded kindergarten before school, including 600 hours of three-year-old kindergarten and 1200 hours of pre-prep. I have families crying out today because they have missed out. This government continues to spout both here and in the media that families will have easy access to all these extra hours. But looking at the actual data on the vic.gov.au website, this aspirational $14 billion – no-one knows where it is going to come from since they have no money and a broken budget – to give children the best start in life is not going to be there for many children within the government timeframe, and by the time some of these programs are even rolled out and are in effect today’s four-year-olds are going to be about 16 years old. Our three- and four-year-olds will be teenagers. They will have missed out on all the benefits that other children in their own areas may have had. How is this equitable?

My concerns about accessing three- and four-year-old kindergarten are (1) the limited availability of spaces due to demand, particularly in the City of Casey, (2) how long children are going to be on waitlists and how they are assessed if eligible, (3) the accessibility statewide and for smaller communities, (4) consistency of programs across the state, (5) the huge financial barriers for families who miss out, (6) concerns for parents whose children miss out and how they will cope down the track, and (7) the transitioning from a home-based learning environment to a group setting, particularly for vulnerable children who may require additional support through programs like the access to early learning.

So the government is again misleading people with its hot air promises that advertise free kinder for three- and four-year-old children, and the actual crunch is going to be that they cannot provide what they are talking about.