Gillard, Hon. J.

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:31): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please inform the house about the appointment the Hon. Julia Gillard AC as royal commissioner and what key stakeholders have said about the establishment of the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:31): I thank the member for Elder for her question because I know that she shares the passion that so many others do across our state to make sure that we are making investments in our most important resource and that, of course, is our children. But, more than that, we are making an investment in a resource for so many who aren't yet born, and that is I think a great demonstration of the long-term thinking that our policy has on this side of the house.

I can't tell you how grateful I was when Julia Gillard informed me that she was willing to take up our request for her to be our royal commissioner into early childhood education here in South Australia. Ms Gillard, of course, brings with her an extraordinary experience in the two fields that are going to be required most in order to see through the delivery of this policy. The first thing, of course, is Ms Gillard has a record of the sort of thoughtful, principled but also pragmatic leadership that is required to deliver complex policy reform in education.

When we think of some of the most substantial reforms in the education sphere that have occurred over the course of the last 50 years in Australia, Ms Gillard has been at the helm of most of them, whether it be the introduction of the Gonski funding reforms in this country, testing arrangements that informed NAPLAN or the establishment of more universality and consistency of the national curriculum. These are the things that Ms Gillard was responsible for—serious policy reform delivered, in a complex area from the commonwealth, in areas that required cooperation from the states was difficult, but she did it.

Post politics, Ms Gillard of course has continued to commit herself to research efforts and advocacy in the education sphere. This is an area of policy that she knows all too well, particularly considering her engagement through the Brookings Institution committed to policy reform in the universality of access to education around the world. Ms Gillard brings with her the actual understanding of the policy and what is required to deliver a reform of this size, and of course this is a big reform.

When we deliver universal access for three year olds to a minimum of 15 hours a week of preschool in this state, it will be the biggest change that has been delivered in education for 50 years. It will mean that South Australian children of the ages of three and four will start to get themselves back on the trajectory of receiving the same level of education and services that we see as very much par for the course in most other countries in the OECD.

Our nation needs to play catch-up in this area. The OECD average for investment in early childhood preschool is 0.6 per cent of GDP; in Australia, that figure is 0.21 per cent of GDP. The number of Australians, South Australian children, who get access to early childhood education is well below the OECD average, yet we know that all the research, all the evidence, tells us that if you want to make the biggest difference in a young person's life, you invest in the early years. That's what the experts tell us—and that's exactly what we are going to do.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Now we have one of Australia's—indeed, the world's—most pre-eminent experts in the area to provide advice to the government on how this will be done, and we look forward to delivering it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!