Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care

Mrs PEARCE (King) (14:21): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house about the interim report of the royal commission into three-year-old preschool in South Australia and how it has been received by stakeholders?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:22): I do want to thank the member for King for this question. I know the member for King shares many in this government's passion for the provision of three-year-old preschool and the power of early childhood learning to really shape a young person's life and the trajectory that they are on. I know this is something that the member for King and I spoke about extensively a number of years ago, and I thank her for her support and advocacy around this area.

It was an important moment for the state a couple of weeks ago when none other than a former Prime Minister of our nation, the Hon. Julia Gillard, handed down the interim royal commission report. This has been an extensive exercise that has been undertaken by the royal commission. The government was very grateful for the interim report and its contents and will be submitting to the royal commission our response to that interim report by 19 May this year.

It is unusual to have a royal commission of this nature. Generally speaking, in Australian public policy and political life, royal commissions are used to look in the rear-vision mirror to work out what went wrong when. We determined the provision of three-year-old preschool to be of such great importance, being in an area that is relatively complex, that it necessitated a royal commission to make sure we got a pathway to deliver this important reform—the single biggest additional effort added to our education system in 50 years—done properly.

The interim report from the royal commission we believe provides us that pathway. There is much detail to be worked through that is actively occurring at the moment, but the nature of the report handed down by the Hon. Julia Gillard is such that it gives the government a pathway to be able to deliver on our policy.

The time lines that are proposed in the royal commission report are somewhat ambitious, but that is an ambition that this government shares. I submit to South Australians that, when they contemplate the cost or the time line, simply what choice do we have but not to do this.

Around the world we know that other governments, particularly in OECD countries, have been investing rather heavily in early childhood education and been able to yield the results on the back of that, namely, improvements in performance. We have seen many nations enjoy an improvement in various measures, such as PESA, whereas here in Australia, universally across states and territories, we have been going backwards over the course of the last 15 years.

All of the international evidence tells us that if you want to make a step change and you are going to invest more effort and resources do it in the early years, so that is exactly what this government is doing.

One of the reasons that underpinned our decision for having a royal commission was because we are operating in what is in Australia a bit of a complex area. A more derogatory term might be that it is somewhat of a quagmire of various levels of government doing various things, private operators doing some things in some areas and public operators doing other things in separate areas, which is why it was heartening to see some of the responses from stakeholders to the royal commission's interim report.

To get such universal acclaim is somewhat rare in this area. The South Australian Children's Advocacy Alliance, which is made up of a broad group of stakeholders themselves, said in respect of the interim report, and I quote:

The recommendations contained in the interim report are clearly aligned with our action plan, boosting the case for high-quality university accessible and affordable early learning.

Paula Pittman from Goodstart Early Learning had a lot of other good things to say as well.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order, Premier.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: We ask the Premier to answer the question.

The SPEAKER: Well, in fact that may be. However, the Premier may not have concluded his answer, and on indulgence he is the Premier. I give the Premier some indulgence—also the leader. I am going to permit him an extra 10 seconds to answer.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's generous of you, Mr Speaker, and I will not indulge too much, but from Goodstart Early Learning, Paula Pittman said, and I quote:

It's so important that we provide the education and services for our youngest members of the community, and the royal commission provides us a pathway to do that.

This is a serious pathway, and we look forward to the final royal commission report later this year.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I might not have otherwise taken that path, but it is the response to a royal commission.