Nineteen childcare service providers in the New England have successfully received funding through the Coalition Government’s Community Child Care Fund (CCCF).
Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce has welcomed the allocation of more than $2.3 million to support regional childcare services and help meet the needs of local families.
“The funding will help local child care services improve access to quality care, particularly in more rural parts of the New England electorate,” Mr Joyce said.
The CCCF aims to increase workforce participation in remote, regional, and disadvantaged communities as well as the support families who need it most.
“It will be good for our kids, good for our hard-working families and ultimately for our community. It will also have a positive economic benefit by allowing more local parents to get back into work or to take on additional hours if they chose,” Mr Joyce said.
The funds will benefit services in areas such as Guyra, Glen Innes, Tintinhull, Nundle, Tenterfield, Uralla, Kootingal and the Upper Hunter that may need support to keep operating, or to fund capital projects to improve services and increase the number of places available.
President of the Nundle Public School P&C Association, Danielle Douglas, said the investment into Nundle’s after school program feels “great” and is glad to be recognised as critical to the community.
“As a remote, regional service provider it feels great to be helped by the government. We were able to employ two new members from our small community and without the funding boost we would never have been able to do this,” said Ms Douglas.
“We are a small town, so we don’t have a huge amount of children, but we do provide the service to those who do need it” she said.
The funding injection for Nundle’s after school program is around $33,000 and will go towards operations which keep the service running, like paying the expert staff their wages.
Minister for Education and Youth, Alan Tudge said more than 640 child care services around Australia would share in more than $100 million through the program.
“We are committed to giving every Australian family access to quality child care, regardless of where they live or their circumstances,” Mr Tudge said.
“In some remote areas, there may only be one or two child care services operating and it is critical we keep these open and help improve and expand facilities so more kids can attend.