Preschool funding is a hot federal election issue

Preschool funding is shaping as a major election battleground, with warnings Australia risks falling behind without significant investment.

Preschool funding is shaping as a major election battleground, with warnings Australia risks falling behind the rest of the developed world without significant investment.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg committed $453 million in funding in the budget to extend the universal access program for preschools for another year to 2020.

But the funding fell short of what the sector had called for and also what Labor is pledging.

Labor will pour $1.75 billion into the early learning sector and will fund two years of preschool before formalised schooling, if elected.

And sector insiders said comments from Mr Frydenberg that only a year’s more funding was delivered due to participation rates needing a boost was not genuine as the federal government has not engaged with the sector or states in a meaningful way.

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Preschool is a hot election issue. Picture: iStock

Chief executive of Early Childhood Australia Sam Page said she was “not aware” that the federal government had engaged on boosting participation.

“A number of State and Territory Governments have engaged with the sector to increase participation in preschool/kindergarten but I am not aware of the Federal Government doing anything in this space,” Ms Page said.

Alys Gagnon executive director of The Parenthood said preschool funding should be an issue important to both parties.

“We’re talking about real children and real families who are impacted by the ongoing uncertainty in preschool funding,” Ms Gagnon said.

“I don’t understand how anyone can look into the face of a child and effectively say, you don’t deserve to go to preschool and when we as a nation refuse to fund preschool, that’s effectively what we’re doing.”

Australia is behind the world on preschool developments. Picture: iStock

Megan O’Connell from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education said Australia needed to lift its game on preschool or risk falling behind the rest of the world.

“We know that children who attend preschool do better on NAPLAN,” Ms O’Connell said. “We can’t afford to let our kids down before they are five.”

Education Minister Dan Tehan said the Coalition was committed to preschool funding.

“Our Government will continue to fund universal access to 15 hours of preschool in

the year before school, irrespective of where that child lives, by providing $449.5 million to guarantee funding through the National Partnership on Universal Access to

Early Childhood Education,” Mr Tehan said.

“The Government will also provide $1.4 million to the Smith Family to work with state and territory governments to develop strategies on how to further lift preschool participation rates, particularly for families in regional and remote communities, including indigenous families.”

Labor’s early childhood spokeswoman Amanda Rishworh said a Bill Shorten government would improve the lives and outcomes of preschool-aged children.

“Scott Morrison would rather help the top end of town than give our children the best start to life,” Ms Rishworth said.

“In stark contrast, Labor is committed to providing ongoing funding for four year olds and, under our plan, would extend this to include three year olds giving the best start to life for more than 700,000 Australian children.”

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Originally published as Preschool funding is a hot federal election issue