In the media

Community inspired policy solutions offer pathway to smart reform in Early Childhood Education and Care services nationwide

Media release, 28 October 2024

Independent Federal Member for North Sydney, Kylea Tink MP, yesterday hosted a rare Deliberative Democracy Forum to enable her community to pull apart the issues that affect access to early childhood education and care for Australian families and assist in the development of community-inspired policy solutions.

With the community of North Sydney paying some of the most expensive early education and care fees in the country, Tink’s team was overwhelmed by the community response from those wishing to participate. To enable the event, 5,000 invitations were sent to randomly selected electors across the community with over 200 people responding to that invitation and registering their interest in participating. From that cohort, a group of 40 people were selected based on the demographic profile of the electorate.

Kylea Tink MP says the process of Deliberative Democracy is transformative as it empowers the people that an MP represents to directly advise and inform that MP as to the policy positions they wish to see them take.

“It’s extraordinary to think you could have taken a photo of the room on Sunday and the image would have shown you what the electorate of North Sydney looks like demographically. Even more importantly though, is the fact that I can move forward in my advocacy in this area with the confidence I am fighting for what my community wants to see happen,” Kylea Tink MP said.

With forum participants hearing from leading sector experts, including from the Australian Childcare Alliance, the Centre for Policy Development, Early Childhood Australia, The Australia Institute and Macquarie University, as well as over 60 submissions received from the wider community, Tink says it was interesting to see where the group landed in terms of their priorities.

After a full day of deliberation, forum participants presented their policy ask to Tink which was fundamentally underwritten by the idea that all Australian children should be able to access free (or low-cost), universal early childhood education and care from birth to age five, regardless of where their family lives or how much they earn.
Interestingly, the group asked Tink to argue for early childhood education and care workers to be moved onto the same award rate as primary school works to address the existing pay disparity and provide wider career development opportunities. Finally, the group asked to Tink to fight to ensure early childhood education and care places are funded according to the number of children attending a centre so that the funding model was brought more in line with the 2011 Gonski funding recommendations for the wider education environment.

“As a mum of three children, who has worked pretty much their entire lives, I understand that raising kids has always been difficult. But we’re now at a point where people in my community are saying that the costs of early childhood education and care are so prohibitive they are literally rethinking having children. Ultimately, everyone agrees the current system is broken and we need smart reform to ensure services are accessible, affordable, and high-quality for all families across Australia, including North Sydney.

“Ninety per cent of a child's brain development happens in their first five years, and the cognitive and social advantages of access to early education and care are clear. Tragically, early childhood education and care simply isn’t an option for many families, particularly those who are already doing it tough.

“Our early childhood education and care system is not only failing families but also holding back the economy. Without reliable childcare, many parents – particularly women – are locked out of the workforce, with the Australia Institute estimating that Australia is losing $168 billion in GDP by not providing universal care.

“There is so much more to be done to strengthen our early childhood education and care sector and deliver improved quality, access and affordability. Informed, community-led discussions such as this one are a vital part of this process. It’s also what our democracy is all about. The community can’t wait for election announcements; we need to make our voice heard and get on with the job now,” Kylea Tink MP said.

A report is being developed on the North Sydney Early Childhood Education and Care Forum and will be released in the coming weeks to help inform community-led early childhood education and care policy.

Download the release here.

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