Bushfires: Mental health support to be offered at day care centres, schools

Support will be provided to children at day care centres and schools in bushfire-declared communities.

Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: Emma Murray

Mental health support will be provided to children at day care centres and schools in bushfire-declared communities, with special consideration given to students accessing university scholarships.

Education Minister Dan Tehan on Friday said child care centres, preschools, schools and universities were “important community touchpoints” helping families and children recover from the bushfire disaster.

Mr Tehan held a roundtable this week with key education sector representatives and said the message relayed to him was “loud and clear”.

“We need to focus on our young people’s mental health because these bushfires will impact communities long after the flames are extinguished,” Mr Tehan said.

The Morrison government is providing an additional $8 million for mental health support through Beyond Blue and funding an extra 25 Beyond Blue liaison officers to support clinicians working with local schools and child care centres.

Mr Tehan said the government would also offer extra funding for school chaplains to be made available for state governments on request.

“Our government will also re-prioritise funding within the Community Child Care Fund for bushfire-affected areas. This funding could help pay for temporary premises, replacement of damaged playground equipment, or wages for affected staff,” he said.

The government will also exempt families of more than 90,000 children in bushfire communities who incur a Child Care Subsidy activity test debt.

“Families can still claim the Child Care Subsidy even if their work, study or volunteering hours have been impacted by the bushfires.”

“When it comes to rebuilding schools, funding is available through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement for the restoration of essential public assets, including public schools.”

Students from bushfire impacted communities will also be given “special consideration to their circumstances if they apply for one of more than 1,000 scholarships through the $58.1 million Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships program”.

The scholarships have been brought forward and will be open from Monday.

The Government is also reviewing its role in supporting local communities in future disasters, including working with state and territory governments on child care and school responses to air quality, bushfires, managing the impact of smoke and tapping the experience of retired teachers, principals and counsellors.