Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Ageing and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about the importance of early childhood education in my electorate of Parkes. I was pleased to recently learn of the government’s desire to provide all four-year-olds with early childhood education. However, I have some concerns over how this may be implemented, particularly when some centres in my electorate do not have an existing preschool or childcare facility. It is my belief that the best way to provide this level of education for children living in rural and remote areas is through mobile preschools and community based organisations.

Many successful mobile preschools operate in my electorate, including the Gwydir Mobile Preschool in Moree and the Tharawanga Preschool, which operates from North Star. These organisations have dedicated staff who travel several hundred kilometres a week on rough roads to ensure that kids living on properties and in smaller towns are able to access preschool education. Without these services, many children would simply miss out.

In addition to mobile preschools, there are also many playgroups run by parents. A few weeks ago I dropped in on the local playgroup in the small village of Carinda. This group is run by local parents. It was good to see the children learning and interacting. Early childhood education is vital, and I believe the children living in my electorate should be given the same opportunity as their city cousins. Mobile preschools and community based groups need to be properly resourced and adequately funded so that country kids get the best possible start in life. I urge the government to take this into consideration when implementing their early childhood education policies.