Free early childhood education

Skyrocketing fees and profit-driven childcare providers are forcing parents to make impossible choices: put careers on hold, miss out on income, or skip early education altogether.

For children, it means missing out on vital learning and development in their most critical early years.

Federally the Greens are fighting to make early childhood education and care free, universal and high-quality. 

Back community and not-for-profit early childhood education

The Greens want to see more funding for community and not-for-profit early childhood education and care, to expand access and increase quality.

Decent pay for teachers and educators

Early childhood teachers and educators are underpaid and overworked. This is despite the critical and hard work they do.

The Greens will fight for teachers and educators to get the fair pay they deserve.

Fix early learning deserts

Large swathes of Victoria, especially in regional areas, don’t have enough early childhood education options for families.

The Greens will develop a plan to address early learning deserts, with more government-funded and not-for-profit centres in these early learning desserts. This shortage of care can have a dire impact on our young children and their families.

Protect child safety

After shocking revelations of abuse and mistreatment in Victorian childcare centres, the Greens want the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority to be funded appropriately. This is to effectively enforce child safety standards to ensure these incidents never occur again to our most vulnerable members of the community.

Transparency and accountability matters. The Greens have used the Parliament to demand key childcare documents and to hold an inquiry into childcare, and will keep holding the government to account. 

Embed First Nations perspectives

Truthtelling and self-determination are important values to First Nations communities and the Greens want to see First Nations frameworks and ways of knowing embedded in early childhood education.

We know they can’t do this alone and must be supported by the government to ensure sustainability and a brighter future of all First Nations children. 

Read more

• The Greens plan: Social services, child protection and ageing
• The Greens plan: Education P-12
• Explore our complete election policy platform 
• How we'll pay for it