Former Labor premier Jay Weatherill campaigning in Boothby over early childhood agenda

The former premier is back and bringing a new campaign on early childhood education to the battle for SA’s most marginal federal electorate.

Former premier Jay Weatherill will target the marginal seat of Boothby in a two-day Adelaide roadshow pushing early childhood education reform he argues will “define the post-COVID era”.

Mr Weatherill is spearheading a campaign for an initial three-year plan for Australia to create a world-leading early childhood learning system by 2030.

Former premier Jay Weatherill with his family. Picture: AAP Image/Sam Wundke

He is now chief executive officer of Thrive by Five, an initiative of Minderoo Foundation, founded by Australia’s richest man, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, and his wife Nicola Forrest.

In talks at Flinders University and a Plympton childcare centre on Thursday, Mr Weatherill will press an agenda including making high-quality preschool accessible in all states for three-year-olds. Boothby, in Adelaide’s southwest, is the state’s most marginal federal seat, held by the Liberals on a 1.3 per cent margin. Mr Weatherill, pictured, said the $1.7bn early childhood plan in the upcoming federal budget was “a good start”, but challenged Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to unveil a plan for multi-year reform.

“There’s an opportunity for him in the Budget to lay down a really inspirational vision (of) what the future could look like,” he said.