Senator Jana Stewart
Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba
Labor Senator for Victoria

Dr Anne Aly MP
Minister for Early Childhood Education

The Albanese Government is ensuring that all children – particularly families that live in regional and remote communities – have access to quality early childhood education and care.

The Government is investing more than $16 million to help establish new early childhood education services in regional communities that currently have limited or no services operating in their area, including delivering a new service to Irymple in Victoria’s northwest.

The new services would help ensure our kids in the regions don’t miss out on the critical benefits of early childhood education and care.

The funding will not only help open more early learning services but also support providers to ensure they can operate sustainably while helping to engage local workforces.

“This will help local parents and carers in northwest Victoria to return to work or increase their hours of work and provide employment opportunities for members of our community” said Jana Stewart, Senator for Victoria.

Once operational, families accessing the new services will be eligible for the recently increased Child Care Subsidy – already making early childhood education more affordable for around 1.2 million Australian families.

The new service is part of the $575 million Community Child Care Fund, helping addresses barriers to participation in early childhood education by helping much needed services open and stay open in communities across Australia.

The program currently funds over 900 services, with around 60 per cent of funding supporting services located in regional and remote communities.

For further information on the new early childhood education and care services visit: education.gov.au/early-childhood/community-child-care-fund/limited-supply-grant.

Quotes Attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education, Dr Anne Aly:

“These exciting new services will also give local families the ability to choose when it comes to increasing hours for work or returning to work or education.

“This investment means more local jobs and more locals able to join the workforce in regional and remote areas.”

“We know the first five years shape a child’s life, with quality early childhood education and care setting children up to succeed at school, in higher education and throughout their lives.

Quotes Attributable to Senator for Victoria, Jana Stewart:

“Children in our regional communities deserve the same facilities as those in the big cities. I’m happy that we can deliver much-needed new early childhood education services for Victoria’s regional communities.”

“The establishment of a quality new service in Irymple will ensure that kids and families can enjoy the developmental, education and health benefits that early childhood education and care provides.

“It is a win-win for regional families, delivering cost-of-living relief and reducing the out-of-pocket costs for over 265,000 rural and regional families.”