Professor Emerita Deborah Brennan to lead Productivity Commission Inquiry

Professor Emerita Deborah Brennan AM will be the co-leader of a Productivity Commission Inquiry into Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) system. 

The Inquiry will build on the delivery of the Government’s Plan for Cheaper Child Care and centre on delivering two key goals – removing barriers to workforce participation for parents and providing a foundation for Australian children’s future wellbeing and success.

Professor Brennan is an Emeritus Professor at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales and is an international expert on ECEC. She has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Melbourne.

She has contributed to national and international debates in her field and has advised both the Australian and UK governments on the development of policies for families and children.

Professor Brennan will work with the other members of the Commission leading the Inquiry, which will commence 1 March 2023 with a final report to be provided to the Government by 30 June 2024.

Her appointment was announced this morning by Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare who described the Inquiry as “the next step in considering how to build an affordable, accessible, high quality, universal early education system”.

The Government, he continued, is committed to identifying solutions that will chart the course for universal, affordable early childhood education and care – in the tradition of universal Medicare and universal superannuation.

Along with the announcement of Professor Brennan’s appointment, the Government released the Terms of Reference for the comprehensive Inquiry which will explore affordability, access, workforce and benefits for children especially children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Commission will undertake a broad consultation process as part of the Inquiry and the Government encourages all interested parties to engage with the Inquiry.

The full Terms of Reference will be made available shortly on the Productivity Commission’s website.