Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Ministers statements: early childhood education and care

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:10): I rise to update the house on how the Allan Labor government is opening 65 new or expanded kinders in 2025. This week I was delighted to attend Barayip Primary School Kindergarten, alongside the member for Tarneit from the other place, to officially open the new kinder and celebrate the new kinder year. It was wonderful to meet the children and families who have enrolled in such a beautiful new facility, which has provided up to 238 new kinder places in the growing Tarneit community.

But Barayip Primary School is just one of the 65 new or expanded services welcoming children in 2025. Last week I joined Mr Galea and Mr Tarlamis at the Topirum kindergarten in Clyde North, another of the 20 new kindergartens opening at government schools, which we know makes life easier for families, saving families time during the most busy period of the day by removing the double drop-off. Importantly, it also makes the transition from kinder to school easier for children, supporting their learning and education. These 20 new kinders on school sites will provide up to 2575 new kinder places for Victorian children. In addition, another 45 new or expanded kinders are opening this year at council, non-government school and other sector sites. These projects were supported by Building Blocks partnerships and capacity-building grants and will create more than 4000 new kinder places.

Not only are we building kinder facilities right across Victoria, we are also directly supporting families with the cost of living. Our free kinder program continues to save families up to $2600 per child at a time when we know every cent counts. It is all part of our nation-leading, $14 billion Best Start, Best Life reforms, which are transforming early childhood education, saving families money and supporting parents and carers to return to work or study if they choose. We are investing billions to build and expand hundreds of kinders across the state and support children to access quality kinder programs. I look forward to visiting many more of these centres in the coming months to see firsthand the benefits they are bringing families in these communities.