Family withdraws child from Goodstart centre over Voice posters, First Nations teachings

A family has pulled their four-year-old son from a Goodstart childcare centre after it put Yes campaign posters and taught him about colonisation.

A family has pulled their four-year-old son from a Goodstart childcare centre after it put Yes campaign posters up at its facility and taught him about colonisation.

Goodstart has defended its commitment to reconciliation and decision to support an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying it “would never tell” families or its team how to vote in the upcoming referendum.

But father Stefan Cook says he and his wife Poppy were confronted with staff at the Perth centre wearing Yes campaign shirts, advertising posters and flyers being “heavily promoted” in the foyer.

In emails to Goodstart, seen by the Herald Sun, Mr Cook wrote that he was troubled by the approach because the referendum was a “political topic” which had no place in a daycare centre.

The family’s concerns then escalated after they found out his son was “being shown videos about bad white people that colonised this country”.

“He was quite traumatised,” Mr Cook said, adding his son couldn’t comprehend it.

“It’s putting things into their brains, it’s like indoctrination to me.

“It’s just not age-appropriate content and we had no idea it was being taught to him.”

Perth parents Stefan and Poppy Cook had concerns about Goodstart's support for the Voice and teachings about First Nations people and culture. Picture: Supplied

Goodstart maintained there was no political content in its age-appropriate resources and that educators had a responsibility to promote greater understanding of the culture of Indigenous Australians under the federal education framework.

But Mr Cook said it was important that parents know what their children are learning, adding conversations about colonisation should not occur until high school.

“We weren’t anticipating having a conversation with a four-year-old about these sorts of things,” he said.

“We’re trying to teach him that everyone is equal … we’re trying to tell him don’t concentrate on the colour of anyone’s skin.”

Goodstart announced its support for the Yes campaign in July, reiterating its commitment to promoting reconciliation saying its centres were “on their own local reconciliation journeys”.

A spokeswoman said its 661 centres had displayed a corflute with a QR code that allows people to read its reasons for supporting the Yes vote and provide feedback.

“We’ve had less than 25 responses – a mix of negative and positive from families and community members despite having more than 63,000 families using our centres,” she said.

But opposition education spokeswoman, Senator Sarah Henderson, said: “Like classrooms, childcare centres and preschools should be places for education not indoctrination”.

Senator Henderson said no matter Goodstart’s corporate position on the Voice, it was inappropriate for the company - which is heavily subsidised by taxpayers - to be engaging in political activism by displaying Yes posters in its centres.

“These posters have the potential to cause confusion in young children which is not in their best interests,” she said.

“the company should do the right thing and remove this material.

“Like many parents, I am concerned about educators who attempt to impose their personal political agendas on children.”

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