As parents across the state struggle with Labor\u2019s cost-of-living crisis, the NSW Labor Government is adding to this burden by failing to deliver Coalition reforms to make childcare and preschool more affordable and easier to access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said the Minns Government should not use federal childcare subsidies as a smokescreen to shortchange NSW parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe NSW Coalition Government committed more than $15 billion over 10 years to make early childhood education and care services more affordable and accessible for parents and carers. This included the $5 billion Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund and a year of free pre-Kindergarten for all children,\u201d Mr Speakman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Labor Party refused to match our support for working parents prior to the election, and given their record for slashing cost-of-living programs the Government is laying the groundwork to cut this essential funding as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said that childcare costs act as a tax on working families with young children, and not investing in early childhood education and care sets children up to fail later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a working mum with young children, I have been a tireless fighter for better access to preschool, early childhood education and care for families across our state. That\u2019s why we\u2019re calling on the Government to confirm no cuts to childcare funding ahead of the September Budget,\u201d said Ms Mitchell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany women feel they can\u2019t return to work, or have to work reduced hours, because of the barriers to accessing quality and affordable early childhood education and care near their home or work. Caring for children is the number one reason mothers say they are not working more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven with the Commonwealth subsidies, access to childcare for thousands of families will be better supported with state funding and ripping that away would have a devastating effect and may force many women out of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo far, the Minns Labor Government have been silent on this issue. We have yet to see any movement on the rollout of the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund and there is no financial support flowing to families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLabor have also only committed to 100 new preschools this term \u2013 one fifth of the 500 preschools the Coalition had earmarked \u2013 and won\u2019t confirm a timeframe for delivering a year of free pre-Kindergarten for all children. They have also short-changed the early childhood workforce with a mere $22 million package, which pales in comparison with the $282 million that was being rolled out by the Coalition to support early childhood teachers and educators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe evidence is clear that the first five years of a child\u2019s life is critical for their social, emotional and cognitive development. That\u2019s why we were investing record amounts in the early years because we know how important it is to set kids on the right trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder Labor, family budgets will be shortchanged and thousands of children will miss out on the crucial early childhood education they need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur children deserve better than what Chris Minns and his team is offering.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As parents across the state struggle with Labor\u2019s cost-of-living crisis, the NSW Labor Government is adding to this burden by failing to deliver Coalition reforms to make childcare and preschool more affordable and easier to access. Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said the Minns Government should not use federal childcare subsidies as a smokescreen … Continue reading “Labor must rule out cuts to preschool and childcare”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21870,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21869\/revisions\/21870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}