Labor, early childcare ‘Growing Together’

With the federal election campaign now seemingly on in earnest, Labor has scored some early points by gaining support from a prominent early childhood advocacy group.

Growing Together: Labor’s agenda for tackling inequality, released on Wednesday, includes the party’s strategy for tackling inequality in early learning. This was well-received by Early Childhood Australia (ECA).

ECA chief executive Samantha Page said,”It is very heartening to see such a comprehensive policy document … acknowledge the key role of early childhood development in determining child wellbeing, and going through the range of policy levels that can support parents [in raising] their children well.”

At the launch of the report at Australian National University, Jenny Macklin, shadow minister for families and payments and for disability reform, noted that “for too many children, their only inheritance is disadvantage … Perhaps for the first time in our history, we cannot be confident that the next generation of Australians will be better off than we are.” To redress this, amongst other measures, Labor has pledged it will improve paid parental leave schemes, which now allow for 18 weeks’ pay at the national minimum wage. The party also suggested that, if elected to power, it would introduce measures to bolster fathers’ participation in childcare, citing the “positive impact” of this on “changing workplace cultures and behaviours”.

Preschool attendance rates, too, were canvassed in the report. Labor committed to working toward universal preschool access for Australian 4-year-olds, and enhanced access for 3-year-olds, “particularly in disadvantaged communities where children have the most to gain from access to formal learning.” To this end, Page commented “it is a strong move by the ALP to recognise that improving participation of children in early childhood education at younger ages is important.” She further mentioned that earlier preschool entry has proven benefits to society, as demonstrated in the UK and New Zealand.

Australia ranks in the bottom third of OECD countries for the enrolment of 3- to 5-year-old children in early childhood education, a 2013 report by the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth showed.

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