[Greens-Media] Sen KERRY NETTLE: Two years public pre-school for every child in Australia: Greens

[Edwards, Jon (Sen K. Nettle)]

18.09.06

Two years public pre-school for every child in Australia: Greens


Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today called for a federal backing of two
years free public preschool for every Australian child.

"The Greens recognise that there is no more effective education dollar
spent than one spent on early childhood education," Senator Nettle said.

"The federal government should ensure that every Australian child has
access to two years free public preschool, staffed by professionally
trained and paid early childhood educators.

"The Greens policy calls for an increase in public preschool funding to
raise spending to at least the OECD average which would be around $2
billion dollar injection of funds at all levels.

"The governments at both state and federal levels have squandered budget
surpluses without investing in the building blocks of our society our
children.

"In NSW the lack of public preschools across the state is a major
contributor to Australia's poor performance in this OECD report.

"The Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop should forget about
insisting of unworkable A to E reporting and instead show some
leadership by pledging a massive increase in federal money to support
public pre-school."


Contact - Jon Edwards 0428 213 146