Wyndham council has called on the federal government to commit to ongoing kindergarten funding after the government announced a funding extension last week.
The federal government will continue to provide a share of kindergarten funding until the end of 2019.
Wyndham learning city portfolio holder Josh Gilligan welcomed the funding, but said it was time for the federal government to make an ongoing commitment to ensure all children had access to 15 hours a week of preschool education in the year before beginning school.
“It’s not good enough,” he said. “It’s just unstable – we need funding certainty.”
Lalor MP Joanne Ryan echoed Cr Gilligan’s sentiments.
“It’s kicking the can down the road and not allowing those sectors to plan properly,” she said.
“We can’t afford for investors to be going, ‘We’re not interested in building long day care centres with high-quality, early education in our community’. We really need investment in that space to keep up with that growing population.
“Attracting and retaining high-quality staff is really key to your performance … you cannot attract and retain high-quality staff on a six-month turnaround.
“It just builds risk into a system that we can’t afford in an area where 86 babies are being born a week.”
