ACA welcomes the provision of “long awaited certainty” and JobTrainer Extension in Budget 2021

The Australian Child Care Alliance (ACA) has commended the Federal Government’s commitment to support families and children in the 2021 Budget in particular calling out the four year preschool funding pledge and JobTrainer extension. 

“The ACA has long advocated for a long-term commitment to preschool funding beyond year-to-year agreements, to support preschool (kindergarten) programs delivered in all settings, including long day care,” ACA President Paul Mondo said.

“This latest announcement provides long-awaited certainty for Australian families and the many service providers that deliver a preschool program.”

Confirmation that the Government will now guarantee preschool funding for a period of longer than 12 months comes after extensive and persistent advocacy from the sector and several years of disappointment as previous budgets failed to provide the additional certainty was also welcomed by ACA. 

“The extension of the Universal Access funding is a positive outcome that will allow Australia’s youngest children to reap the rewards of attending quality preschool programs for years to come,” Mr Mondo said.

In addition to commending the Government for acting in the preschool funding arena, the peak body also welcomed the Federal Government’s commitment to extend the JobTrainer program, which will allow a further 450,000 funded training places for jobseekers, particularly young people and is particularly important to ECEC given well flagged workforce shortages. 

“With the critical workforce shortage in the early learning sector, it is vitally important that measures are put in place to build on the existing supply of qualified educators,” Mr Mondo said, “We believe the commitment to increasing available training places is a powerful start to addressing the problem.”