Jacqui Emery, CEO of Royal Far West, a specialist child development service that supports thousands of country children across four states, said such a Fund could be used to invest in and support desperately needed health and early education services.
“This is an important commitment from the Coalition,” Ms Emery said. “Through our work, we see the life-changing potential of high quality early childhood education and care, and comprehensive children’s health and development support every day. They help set kids in the regions up for life, but when they’re not available in regional, rural and remote communities, families in these communities face significant barriers to access.
“Investing $1 billion a year into regional infrastructure like early learning, health and development would make massive inroads into addressing these barriers. Equally, working with local communities on local place based solutions is a great initiative in addressing early learning and intervention needs.”
Royal Far West urged the Coalition to back in the Regional Australia Future Fund with a policy to achieve universal early childhood education.
“Children who have the opportunity to access early learning and support for their healthy development are shown to be more engaged at school, to be more likely to finish school, go on to further education and to participate in the workforce. They are less likely to have mental health issues and come into contact with the justice system,” Ms Emery said. “Too many country children are starting school behind and will struggle to catch up. We know that country kids are up to twice as likely as city kids to start school developmentally vulnerable.
“High quality early education is the best opportunity to identify issues early, provide support and help reduce this inequity and reverse this worrying trend.”
Royal Far West acknowledged the engagement of the Coalition, in particular the Nationals, with regional children’s health and development advocates in bringing this commitment forward.
“Following the election, we remain committed to collaborating with the new government to champion the needs of country children, ensuring their voices are heard and their inclusion in all relevant policies is prioritised,” Ms Emery said.