Supporting early learning and care for Indigenous families

Families in a dozen of Australia’s most remote Indigenous communities will receive more support to access quality early childhood education and care under the Morrison Government’s new child care package. 

The Morrison Government has committed $278 million under the Community Child Care Fund (CCCF) to support about 900 child care services to transition into the new child care arrangements. 

Minister for Education Dan Tehan said $25 million was available to aid 12 child care providers in remote Australia to boost Indigenous participation in early education and care. 

“We’re getting behind the families who live in remote communities where access to quality, reliable early learning and child care isn’t always guaranteed,” Mr Tehan said. 

“We understand the important work many of these services have been doing, so they now have additional support to help give local kids their best start in life.” 

Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion said because the services primarily delivered child care they were transitioning to the new child care package and the CCCF instead of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy. 

“From January 2019, families who use these services will have access to the same subsidies that assist other Australian families with the cost of child care and early learning, and we hope to see growing numbers of kids enrolling,” Mr Scullion said. 

Many of these services will be receiving ‘per child subsidies’ for the first time, so regular reviews have been established to gauge whether the service collected the expected level of subsidy or whether top-up funding needs to be considered to ensure their ongoing viability. 

Details about the CCCF are available at https://www.education.gov.au/community-child-care-fund-0 ENDS