Election 2025: Coalition looks to free books to lift literacy

Free books for disadvantaged children are part of the Coalition’s ‘focus on fundamentals’ in education.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Senator Sarah Henderson reads a book with Hugo Pestonji and his mother Grace Pestonji, after the Coalition announced its Ready to Read program.

Free books would be sent to thousands of children from poor fam­ilies under a Coalition policy to fund a $3.8m Ready to Read ­program.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said 12,500 children younger than five would be sent one book every month to support early literacy development.

She said research showed that children who were not read to at home were six times more likely to face developmental challenges in language and cognitive skills.

“Learning to count, read and write starts long before the school years,’’ she said. “Ready to Read will back parents, making it easier for children to read at home by delivering a new book each month directly to their home.’’

The program, based on the Imagination Library initiative of the Dolly Parton Foundation, has already been taken up or trialled in 450 communities through United Way Australia.

Senator Henderson said that her focus as education minister, if the Coalition wins government, would be to improve children’s foundational skills of reading, writing and mathematics.

She said the free books program was a “real game changer’’ for children learning to read.

“It’s all about ensuring families in disadvantaged communities are properly supported, and that children can discover a love of reading and a love of books,’’ she said.

“Children who are not read to at home can suffer significant developmental challenges.

“This is transformational – it goes to our deep commitment to getting back to basics in early childhood education, schools and universities. We want every child to achieve their best potential.’’

The Imagination Library is an initiative of country and western star Dolly Parton. Picture: Getty Images

Senator Henderson said the $3.8m grant would be an investment in children’s learning throughout school. “It’s a really important investment with big dividends,’’ she said. “The prospect of thousands of children with greater literacy when they start school is a game-changer, and fundamental to raising school standards across the board.

“We don’t want any child to fall between the cracks. This is a commonsense, highly successful program that really does make a difference – a book arrives in the mail every month and the kids are excited.’’

The Coalition has pledged to fund free books for thousands of children from poor families, so they don’t fall behind in literacy when they start school.

Senator Henderson also pledged to negotiate a new preschool funding deal with the states and territories.

The existing agreement expires at the end of this year, but the Albanese government did not provide forward funding in last month’s federal budget.

The world’s largest research study on the impact of reading books to babies and toddlers, led by Macquarie University PhD candidate Claire Galea, worked with United Way Australia and the Dollywood Foundation to send books to 86,000 new parents in Australia, the US, Canada, Britain and Ireland.

It found that children who were regularly read books from birth were more likely to know letters and words, and to speak using complex sentences, by the age of three.