Wyong and Gosford Connected Beginnings sites

I start by saying a huge thank you to Jackyla. You're doing an amazing job and it's great to see such a young person up here. You get a bit of a day off school today, don't you? But a lot of learning to do here this morning as well. Can I also thank you, Uncle BJ, for the welcome to country. And can I thank you, Aunty Tammy, for the water ceremony? I've never had that before and it was quite a spiritual experience, so I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Can I also acknowledge the Darkinjung people, the traditional owners of the land, this beautiful land on which we meet? What a great and glorious day to be here, but in such beautiful surrounds and among such beautiful people. Thank you so much for having me here this morning. 

I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and I want to acknowledge the ongoing cultural and educational practises. I want to extend that respect to all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with us here today. I want to acknowledge my dear friend and fantastic Member for Dobell, my colleague, the Assistant Minister, Emma McBride, who is with us today, and I'm sure who you all know as an active member of this community. I'd also like to acknowledge our colleague, the Assistant Minister, Ged Kearney, who has taken on the role of the Indigenous Health portfolio. Unfortunately, Ged's unable to join us here today, but is a big supporter of the Connected Beginnings program. And my sister, my girl, my friend, my heart, Miranda Edwards. Thank you also for everything that you do. I'm seeing a lot of Miranda these days, but it is an absolutely good thing. And I really want to acknowledge you, Miranda, for all that you do in this Connected Beginnings space, but also for who you are as a person and the heart that you bring to everything that you do. And can I also thank the Barang Regional Alliance for having us all here today. And thank you to everyone, everyone who's here this morning in Wyong. 

Now, I don't have to tell you all just how important those first five years of a child's life are. We know that. We know that as parents, as grandparents, aunties, uncles, but also, we know that through our cultural connections and the ways in which we bring traditional ways in raising children as well. In my culture, I always say that, you know, you're getting old when the men in beards start calling you aunty. I am at that stage. I try to avoid it, but they're still calling me aunty so, there you go. 

By the time children reach the age of 5 or 6, 90 per cent of their brain development has already occurred. That's pretty phenomenal. So, we've got children here who are 3 and older. So, when you look at these young ones, you know, by the time they're 5 or 6, that's 90 per cent of their brain already developed. 

We know that children who access early childhood education do better on a range of key measures throughout life, not just in those first five years, but right throughout life. They carry that through their lives. They get improved literacy and numeracy skills, better health outcomes, better health outcomes, and they go on to better educational outcomes and actually, higher paying jobs. 

So, we know that if we get those first five years right, then we've got the ability to change a child's life. Just let that sit for a minute, for a minute. If you get those first five years right, you change a child right through their entire life, through school, through their teenage years and right into their adulthood, on education, on health, on outcomes, on employment outcomes. That's how important those first five years are. 

And that's something that drives me and that drives our Government to do what we do every single day. And it also drives this program, the programs that we're launching here today, Connected Beginnings. A key contributor in Closing the Gap on early childhood education. Something that we know is one of the few, unfortunately few, Closing the Gap targets that's on track. But we know there's more work to do. We know that it's not just enough to Close the Gap or gaping chasm. We've got to go beyond, we've got to do more than just Close the Gap. So, we partner with First Nations communities to ensure that our activities are delivered to First Nations people in place and on country. 

Delivered in partnership with SNAICC, our National Voice for Children, and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, the Connected Beginnings program exemplifies all the great things that can happen, the real outcomes that you can achieve when you actually involve and actually listen to community in real and measurable and tangible ways. When I visited the Connected Beginnings site in Nowra with Miranda, not that long ago, I had someone comment about how this is a kind of a new approach to raising children. You know, where everyone comes together, wraps around the child, acknowledging that the child's education is intrinsically tied to their health outcomes, intrinsically tied to other outcomes in life. But, you know, as I know, that it takes a village to raise a child, these are the traditional ways. They're not new ways, they're the traditional ways, if we just listen to those traditional ways and if we allow those traditional ways to guide us, look at what we can achieve. 

Now, today, there are two new Connected Beginnings sites that have been launched here, this one here in Wyong and one in Gosford. These are our 42nd and 43rd out of 50 Connected Beginnings sites that we'll achieve by 2025. And we're well on track to achieve those 50 sites. Once those 50 sites are up and running, 20 per cent of First Nations children will benefit from access, not just to early childhood education care, but to all of those other wraparound services that impact on the child's wellbeing and their development, and that have that ripple effect and that lasting, that lasting impact throughout their lives. These two sites, the one here in Wyong and one in Gosford, will help 2,400 First Nations children. 2,400! That's what happens when you involve community, when you actively listen to community, and when you give community the reins to control their lives. When you give them the reins to control their lives, when you acknowledge the importance of traditional ways, when you acknowledge, as I did at the beginning, the cultural ways of approaching child development and raising children. 

So, the program is for First Nations children aged zero to five. And as I mentioned, it's got early childhood education, health and family support services, all things that wrap around the child. It helps them meet their learning and development milestones that are necessary for that positive transition to school. Now, we know that we're doing well on early childhood education and care, but we still haven't seen the benefits of that in terms of Closing the Gap on school readiness. So, programs like Connected Beginnings will not only have a positive impact on Closing the Gap for early childhood education and care but will have that flow on effect for school readiness as well. 
At the existing sites of Connected Beginnings, the average attendance of First Nations children in centre-based care has increased by more than 10 per cent. More than 10 per cent! And that's what's contributed to the Closing of the Gap targets. And I'm pleased to report that existing sites have seen an increase in the number of children on track in all five, all five Australian early development census domains. Not just one or two domains, but all five of them. The new sites here in Gosford and Wyong are being delivered in partnership with Barang and, as I mentioned, will support 2400 First Nations children in this local area. 

So, I'm absolutely thrilled to be here today to announce those two new sites joining another 41 locations as I mentioned, this is site 42 and 43. As part of the 50 sites that we've invested in. I look forward to the outcomes that we've seen so far with the Connected Beginnings sites, the 41 Beginnings, Connected Beginnings sites that we've seen so far. I look forward to those outcomes being a reality for First Nations children in Gosford and Wyong, but right across Australia as well. Right across Australia. 

So, thank you. Huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone here today. This is in no small measure you. We funded it, but really, all this hard work is your hard work. And I would like to thank you for not just today and not just what's about to come, hopefully with these two new sites, but for your every day, the things that you do every day in keeping that cultural connection, raising young children with a sense of belonging, a strong sense of identity, a strong sense of place, a strong sense of culture, because that's what raises, that's what contributes to, and that's what makes resilient young people who thrive throughout their lives. So, thank you again. And I look forward to hearing of all the positive impacts of this program on the community and I look forward to coming back here again, especially if it's a day like today in this beautiful place. Have a great morning. Thank you.