Children and early childhood development

The Coalition Government is working to ensure that all families have access to high quality early childhood services.

Families are the cornerstone of our communities and providing children with opportunities to develop in their early years is vital. The Coalition will deliver immediate action to support early education development by:

investing in early childhood infrastructure;
ensuring the sustainability of kindergarten services in small rural communities by easing the burden of kindergarten fees and reducing the need for fund-raising through the provision of operational grants;
providing more Kindergarten Inclusion Support places to enable more children with a disability or developmental delay to participate in kindergarten programs;
recognising that parents have the most significant influence on a child’s life and providing better support for parents; and
responding to the need for workforce development, by providing additional maternal and child health scholarships.

On national reform, we will be seeking a better deal from the Commonwealth Government, and negotiating to ensure that federal election commitments are delivered by the Commonwealth.

The Victorian Coalition Government will meet the challenges of a growing population and work to improve the quality of early childhood education by providing care services and supporting families so that children have a great beginning in life. We will work closely with families, communities and local government to achieve improved outcomes for Victorian families.

Achievements and policies implemented in the first year of Coalition Government

Launched a $26 million capital grants round for 2011–12, the largest grant round for early childhood infrastructure in Victoria's history
Delivered an additional $10 million for Kindergarten Inclusion Support Services (KISS), an election commitment that will enable 246 more children with disabilities to attend kindergarten
Prepared and launched the 'Smalltalk' research project – a world leading $8.9 million project to provide assistance and guidance to about 2,000 families for parenting skills to develop a child's social, interpersonal and literacy skills
Prepared and launched the Small Rural Kindergarten Grants program, a $6 million election commitment to provide grants of up to $20,000 to eligible small rural kindergartens
Provided every community based kindergarten in Victoria with a grant of $2,500 for IT and equipment, at a total cost of $3.4 million
$41.5 million to provide free kindergarten in the year before school for more than 18,300 low income families through the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy
$14.2 million to continue and expand kindergarten cluster management to reduce the burden on parent-run committees, co-ordinating the use of infrastructure, supporting the workforce, and working in partnership with other bodies to provide greater choice for families
$18.2 million to support kindergarten children needing extra assistance including $10 million to expand Kindergarten Inclusion Support Services so 246 more children with disabilities can attend kindergarten, and $8.2 million to continue the provision of 150 early childhood intervention services and 150 flexible support places
$3.7 million to maintain the Maternal and Child Health Line's capacity to answer more than 100,000 calls per year
$2 million to implement the Coalition Government's parenting strategy to provide support to parents
$350,000 in funding to the Victorian branch of the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) to continue to support ABA volunteers in rural Victoria and expand current programs and support for parents and infants
$180,000 to expand the Maternal and Child Health nurses' scholarship program to provide an additional 50 postgraduate scholarships of $3,500 each