29 November 2007

Early education and child care are winners in new Cabinet

Early Childhood Australia, the leading national, non-government advocacy organisation for children, says Kevin Rudd's new Cabinet is 'a positive demonstration of his government's commitment to pre-election promises of making early education and child care a priority.'

CEO of Early Childhood Australia, Pam Cahir, says that 'Maxine McKew's appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the PM with responsibility for early education and child care, and the appointment of the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, as the Minister for Education augur well for young children.'

'This is the first time early childhood has had such strong relationships with such high-ranking members of government.'

'Early Childhood Australia looks forward to working with the government to implement its promises in a way which will ensure better outcomes for young children and early childhood services.'

'This is about ensuring a high-quality, qualified early childhood workforce, an accreditation system focused on quality improvement and implementing the government's preschool commitment in a way that strengthens the children's service sector as a whole,' Ms Cahir said.

'Fixing the children's service sector in Australia will require a long-term strategy across more than one term of government. But this is a really fine start.'