General News
20 February, 2025
Win for country students
The Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 passed through parliament.
On Friday, February 14 the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 passed through parliament.
The legislation removes the activity test applied to the child care subsidy to allow every Australian child to attend early childhood education and care for up to three days.
“This is a big win and should be celebrated in every regional community,” said Royal Far West CEO Jacqui Emery.
She congratulated the federal government, the Greens and members of the crossbench on the passing of the bill.
“The activity test was one of the most significant barriers to accessing early learning for families.
“Originally conceived as a workforce participation measure, in practice it locked families out of the workforce and children out of high quality early education,” Ms Emery said.
“High quality early learning and care helps set kids in the regions up for life.”
“It has been shown that children who access early learning are more engaged at school, more likely to finish school, go on to further education, and to participate in the workforce. Furthermore, they are less likely to have mental health issues and come into contact with the justice system.
“Too many country children are starting school behind and will struggle to catch up.
“We know that country kids are twice as likely as city kids to start school developmentally vulnerable,” Ms Emery said.
“High quality early education is the best opportunity to identify issues early, provide support and help reduce this inequity and reverse this worrying trend.
“We are looking forward to working with the federal government to deliver this important reform.
“Royal Far West continues to call on all parties to bring bold reforms to add-ress the remaining challenges regional, rural and remote families face accessing early childhood education and care to the table.
“These include childcare deserts and the need for a new funding model that fu-rther reduces affordability barriers,” Ms Emery said.
