Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (16:30:24): I am so delighted to be able to talk about one of my favourite topics of all, which is education.

As a former teacher, I miss every day the kids I used to teach—I love running into them—but I know firsthand that early education matters. It matters to the whole community, and that is why we are taking action on early education and we are putting our money where our mouth is.

As a mum I will talk about my kids a lot more during this debate because it is that firsthand experience and the interaction that you have with kindergarten teachers that really provides you with the great insights, so I look forward to talking about that.

Before I go on I would really like to thank the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education for his endless commitment to the Education State and his strong advocacy for record investment in our schools but also in our kinders and in our early education sector.

I know that my community has benefited greatly from the Labor government’s investment in schools but also more recently in kinders. We have had transformative upgrades of key schools in Ballarat, particularly Ballarat High School and Mount Rowan Secondary College. We have also made a number of commitments to redevelop schools and, of course, the record maintenance blitz is really going to upgrade many of our schools to make sure that they are world-class education facilities, which is so important for us.

Like the member for Buninyong, I would also like to pay tribute to the member for Carrum, the Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education, for her endless commitment to this portfolio area. It was such a lovely day when I got to host you at the Enid Rogers Jubilee kinder, one of Ballarat’s most established kinders, talking to staff, talking to parents and engaging with the kids. They were so delighted to have you in our community. They said to me, ‘Isn’t it great we’ve got these representatives from the Andrews Labor government? We see you all the time, Juliana, but it is really great to see parliamentary secretaries come up’. They were really delighted.

So thank you so much, Parliamentary Secretary, and I extend a very warm invitation: we have many kinders in the electorate of Wendouree and I would love you to visit every single one of them with me. We will have a lot of fun, I am sure.

I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the contributions to this debate, because it shows that we have a shared value system. We have a value system that talks about access and equity. We have a value system, particularly on our side of Parliament, that says that every kid deserves the best opportunity, that every child should be given the best chance to be school ready, that no child should be left behind.

That is very much one of the key drivers of the Andrews Labor government in our policymaking. Whether it be in health, whether it be in infrastructure, we want to make sure that nobody misses out, and that is why we are doing all we can to ensure that Victorians can work and live and enjoy their lives to the best of their ability.

This bill has not just come from nowhere. It is the result of a lot of hard work. I think it is very important that we acknowledge the people who we do not see, the people who work behind the scenes, and I would like to thank everyone from the minister’s office as well as in the department. Thank you for everything that you do; we really do appreciate the work that you do for us and thank you.

But also I really want to acknowledge the people that have been involved in the consultation process for this bill, the people who have gone out and talked to key stakeholders, such as Early Learning Association Australia, the Community Child Care Association, the Municipal Association of Victoria, Neighbourhood Houses Victoria—and a lovely shout-out to the Wendouree Neighbourhood Centre, which does such a great job—and the YMCA.

It is so important that when we do want to bring about change, even if it is technical change, we bring our key stakeholders with us and make sure that they are very supportive of what we do, and I think that is something that we do very well as a government.

So this bill, the Children’s Services Amendment Bill 2019, is very important because it aligns the Children’s Services Act 1996 with the national quality framework, and that is very important. This government is getting on with making sure we provide a consistent approach across the state—a national system—for our children, so that whether you are raising children in regional Victoria or in metropolitan Melbourne there will be a level of consistency there and you can have confidence that your child is getting a quality education.

So what does this bill do? This bill really helps the sector and therefore parents, carers and children by simplifying arrangements and ensuring consistent minimum standards. It is also about reducing red tape, providing for consistency again, providing equity and enabling efficiencies. It will reduce the administrative burden and any risk or confusion that may come from working under both systems, which is certainly welcomed by everyone. Also it will increase confidence for those hardworking service providers that there is equity across the sector. This is a very commonsense approach and it is something very timely as well. We will be streamlining our early education system across sectors, driving improvements in quality in early education services.

It is coming up to nearly a year since the election and I have learned a lot in the last year, but I am so proud to be a part of a government that gets on with reform. This bill is another example of that reform, because nobody can doubt the importance of kinder to a child’s development.

I have such fond memories of attending Alfredton Primary in the electorate of Wendouree. I do not know about anyone else, but my girls certainly had chickens hatch and we also had chickens hatch. That was a really, really special time. I have lovely memories of singing. Mrs Lucas, my kindergarten teacher, would often get the guitar out—great singalongs—as well as storytelling.

I am very blessed; like the Minister for Corrections, who is at the table, I am still friends with a number of the kids that I went to kinder with. I went through primary school with them, I went through secondary school with them and I run into them often at the local pool, at dance classes and stuff like that. Your kinder friends are really, really special to your heart, so a shout-out to all my kinder friends. Thank you so much for your support also to this day.

One of the most important things about Alfredton kinder, like many other kinders, was that it prepared me for school. Lots of the kids at Alfredton Primary then went on to St Thomas More with me. So that first day of prep, which can be pretty challenging for some, was not challenging for me. I had a whole lot of my besties with me, and I was ready to say, ‘See ya, Mum. I’m ready for school’.

Now as a mum of two girls—it is hard to believe that they are now nine and 11—kinder seems like it was no time at all ago. My kids had the most wonderful kinder experience at Ballarat Fidelity Club Kindergarten in Ballarat Central, just a couple of blocks from our house. I could walk the kids up to kinder and they loved it.

I would particularly like to thank the early educators at Fidelity kinder in Central Ballarat: Heather, Mary, Mandy and all the other wonderful people at Fidelity kinder who have had such a positive influence on our daughters’ lives, Johanna and Sophia.

Like so many parents and carers, I loved being a kinder helper: cutting up the fruit, getting to do some painting, reading stories and—this is a bit more trendy than when I was at kinder—doing some mindfulness, with all the kinder kids doing some mindfulness, which was lovely. It was also an opportunity to see firsthand the incredible work that our early educators do and to see how passionate they are about our children’s development: building the foundations of numeracy and literacy skills, encouraging a love of books, promoting imagination through role-play.

I also have to really comment on the incredible patience that kindergarten teachers have. In a room full of very enthusiastic four and five-year-olds, their patience is amazing. What I love about kindergarten teachers and our kindergarten teachers is that no matter where we run into them, whether we run into them when we are out and about in Ballarat or at the supermarket, they are always so keen to know how Johanna and Sophia are going and they have got a real active interest.

This is why I think every single Victorian mum and dad should be able to provide their children with the opportunity to go to three-year-old kinder. For many this is not an option because it has been cost prohibitive. But the Andrews Labor government is stopping that.

The Andrews Labor government is saying that we will have universal access to three-year-old kinder, because that is what this government does. It is about access and equity for all regardless of your bank balance, regardless of your social status.

So on that note I thank the Andrews government for its commitment to early education, and I commend this bill to the house.

 

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