Major ECEC organisations call for legislation to ensure the best start in life for children

Prominent early childhood education and care (ECEC) bodies, including SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, Early Childhood Australia and KU Children’s Services, have called for today’s National Early Years Summit to “be bold”. 

An open letter signed by 41 ECEC organisations has called on the Summit and its partners to “commit to a new guarantee for every Australian child, bound by legislation and operationalised by a new Commonwealth and state early childhood body.”

The guarantee, the letter continues, should have universally accessible, high-quality ECEC as its backbone, and must ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families have access to community-controlled, culturally appropriate services.

Additionally, it must ensure that every family in Australia has access to: 

• infant and maternal health care;
• comprehensive family support, including playgroups;inclusive community-based disability support; and,
• at least two years of preschool.

“We will only get these outcomes for children with a highly skilled and well paid workforce,” the letter continues, saying the Summit is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and urging participants to “be bold and lay the foundations for a new approach to the early years”.