20 JunTerm 2 ELAA advocacy in summary
Term 2 was yet another busy, but exciting, term for our Advocacy team here at ELAA.
Submissions
During Term 2 we produced three submissions, each outlining ELAA’s vision and recommendations to improve the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector. This included a submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Australian Early Childhood Education, a submission to the Commonwealth Government’s Early Years Strategy, and a submission to the Victorian Government’s 30-year Infrastructure Strategy. We are also developing our submission to the Draft Strategy for the Care and Support Economy, which will be uploaded with our other submissions. You can CLICK HERE to read all our submissions.
Victorian and Federal Budget announcements
This Term also saw the handing down of both the Federal and Victorian Budgets. The Federal Budget included an investment of $72.4 million over five years to support the ECEC workforce. The Victorian Budget saw another considerable investment in ECEC to help assist with the scale up of 30-hours of Pre-Prep. ELAA was especially excited by the announcement of $18.1 million in the Budget to support the design and piloting of new approaches to support children with a disability, developmental delay and/or additional needs. This will include increasing Preschool Field Officer support in growth areas, creating a more consistent assessment approach, and continuing the specialised equipment program.
ELAA welcomes the Victorian Government’s continued investment in ECEC including:
- $3.2 million supporting refugee families in ECEC through the Refugee Education Support Program
- $10 million committed to Building Blocks Grants between 2023-2025
- $11.2 million for 2023-2024 to continue trials to embed family services in universal settings such as ECEC, health hubs and schools providing accessible services for vulnerable families
- a predicted $912.8 million for Best Start, Best Life infrastructure
- $140 million to reduce Aboriginal over representation in child protective services.
Inclusion Support review
Inclusion support is an important part of ELAA’s advocacy. We believe that it ties into the delivery of high-quality play-based learning and is a core part of improving equity across the sector. ELAA has been gathering member insights into how to improve the Federal Inclusion Support Program (ISP) and recently had the opportunity to meet with consulting firm, Deloitte, were we communicated those insights. Alongside this, we met with the Victorian Department of Education to begin the consultation process for the improvement of the Kindergarten Inclusion Support program (KIS). It is an exciting time to have such a considerable state and national focus on inclusion, and ELAA looks forward to participating in improving these programs as informed by our members.
ELAA advocates in Canberra for regional and rural services
Megan O’Connell, ELAA’s Acting CEO, visited Canberra this term to participate in the Grain Growers Roundtable. With attendees including the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth, Dr Anne Aly, and the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell, this was an excellent opportunity for ELAA to raise a potential solution to the growing problem faced by regional and rural communities – a lack of access to ECEC services. We proposed the extending of access to subsidised childcare hours to kindergartens not currently eligible for Child Care Subsidy. This would allow these services to offer subsidised extended hours to families and ensure existing ECEC infrastructure and staff were being utilised to full capacity. This point was also highlighted in our submission to the Productivity Commission, which Megan took the opportunity to promote to other key stakeholders during her time in Canberra. To read submission to the Productivity Commission CLICK HERE.
We would like to thank members for their continued participation and contribution to supporting our Advocacy. Your insights and advice are invaluable to our current strategy. We hope you have a restful school holidays and we look forward to working with you in Term 3.
