Early Childhood Australia Regional, Rural and Remote Leadership Network Breakfast

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather today.  

I thank Sam Page and ECA for their leadership and for inviting me to speak today, and thanks to the Parliamentary Friends of Early Childhood for hosting this event, co-chaired by my colleagues Senator Marielle Smith from South Australia and Senator Andrew Bragg from NSW. 

I'd also like to acknowledge the work of the Hon Fiona Nash, our Regional Education Commissioner, who has been a powerful voice for regions in her role over the past five years. 

And to other speakers this morning – my colleagues from the Senate, the Shadow Minister Matt O'Sullivan and Senator Steph Hodgins-May. 

Our Government is building a quality universal early education system, giving more children and families more opportunity for a bright future. 

We are putting the building blocks in place for universal early education and care that is high quality, affordable and available where families need it most – including in regional and remote Australia. 

Earlier this year, I visited Derby in the Kimberley to announce a new $21 million Early Years Centre we’re building for that community in partnership with the West Australian Government, Ngunga Group Womens Aboriginal Corporation and the Minderoo Foundation.  

It’s part of our $1 billion Building Early Education Fund.  

In addition to Derby, we've announced another 36 projects in collaboration with State and Territory governments to be built in areas of high need and limited supply. 

65 per cent of these projects are in regional, remote and very remote locations. 

Like Yorkeys Knob in Far North Queensland, Kimba and Quorn in South Australia, Inverell and Eden in NSW, and Bruny Island and Bothwell in Tasmania. 

Soon we’ll announce more projects to be delivered through the Building Fund’s other grant rounds. 

These won't all be large services – in fact our small-scale project round is designed to support different models at a different scale, recognising that we are a very large and diverse country. 

It’s part of our work to build universal early education and care. 

The Prime Minister, Education Minister Jason Clare and I are all determined to deliver quality early learning that is there not just for the children of today, but for the families of tomorrow too, and for future generations to come. 

A universal early education and care system.

Making early education and care universal doesn’t mean it’s going to be free for everyone, or compulsory for everyone either.

Universal early education means families can afford it.   

It means families can find it.  

And it means it’s good quality. 

Affordable. Available. Good quality. 

Those are the building blocks of quality universal early learning. 

And we are putting them in place right now through our 3 Day Guarantee, through the Building Early Education Fund, and through our historic 15 per cent pay rise for educators.

Consulting on a national Early Education and Care Commission is the natural next step as we deliver a quality universal early education and care system. 

It could help in fixing issues of both undersupply and oversupply, including in regional and remote areas. 

As I said, the Building Early Education Fund will include smaller projects in recognition of the diversity of our country, as not every place can sustain the larger services we see in metropolitan areas. 

And we are also supporting different early learning models that work in smaller, and regional and remote communities. 

This includes high quality Family Day Care, particularly where it can be linked and provided through local in-venue services. 

We recently announced our $5 million grant round for In Home Care providers – many of whom serve families in regional and remote communities – to help sustain them. 

And for the first time, employees in In Home Care and Family Day Care will be eligible for our 15 per cent pay rise.  

Quality early learning starts with supporting and valuing educators. 

That’s why we’ve locked in our historic 15 per cent pay rise for educators. 

So they can afford to stay in the jobs they love. 

This is one of the most important things we can do to stabilise and strengthen the sector.   

Because a quality workforce is the foundation of quality and safety in early learning. 

That’s good for children, and good for families. 

I understand that yesterday ECA convened a discussion about new ways to meet the challenges of supply and quality in regional, rural and remote areas, and that conversation will continue today. 

I am keen to hear the outcomes of these discussions, and of course your ideas for quality universal early learning. 

Our ambition is significant and sustained. 

We want high quality, affordable early education in more places where it’s needed.

Because more children deserve the opportunity to learn, grow and shine in their early years. 

And parents deserve practical support to make family life work and build a strong future, including those families living in our regional, rural and remote communities.