Kingston Early Learning Centre

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:21): My question is to the Minister for Education, Training and Skills. Can the minister advise the house when work will begin on the new Kingston childcare Early Learning Centre. With your leave, Mr Speaker, and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The future of the childcare centre has been under a cloud due to a shortfall in funding following delays and building cost increases. Last month the federal government announced the council was successful in a grants application of $3½ million. The state government has already committed $3½ million, taking the budget to $7 million, to build this centre.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:22): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and can I take the opportunity, too, to thank the member for MacKillop for years of advocacy from him on this topic, in terms of how we address what is a very challenging issue for all levels of government, and that is how we address childcare deserts.

I think the loudest voices in South Australia over the last three years have been from the Kingston South East community. I want to thank the member for MacKillop from the outset for the way that he has chosen to work with this government constructively towards an outcome—and a positive one as well, and that is what we are able to announce finally today.

I know this has taken time, and to be perfectly frank it has taken longer than I would have liked it to take. What we have done and what we have managed to achieve—through about $8 million of funding that we have collectively put together through a $3.5 million grant from the state government, a $3.5 million grant from the federal Albanese government, $1 million from a philanthropic organisation (which was just announced recently) and the $8 million that we have—will enable us to build a brand-new fit-for-purpose centre, co-located on the Kingston community school site, which will accommodate 83 places, which is enough for not just existing demand but also for future demand for long day care and preschool—and preschool at that site will include three-year-old preschool and four-year-old preschool and out-of-school hours care as well.

Although this has taken us longer than we had hoped, it is an example of what we can actually achieve altogether when local council, state government, including people from different sides of the political fence, and the federal government work together. Areas around childcare deserts are particularly tricky because child care has long been the domain of the federal government and preschool has been the domain of the state government and then often with some local council involvement in that as well, and trying to come to an arrangement which won't just solve the problem for Kingston but will also be a model that we can adopt now and use elsewhere—and that is exactly what we want to do—is a really fantastic thing that we have managed to achieve here.

I have to take this opportunity today that the member for MacKillop's question presents to me to thank the local community. There have been three exceptionally loud voices in Kingston for the best part of 8½ years now. They started their campaign when they were trying to find child care for their own children, and their kids are now well past that, but Kirsty Starling, Kristen Wilkes and Fiona Rasheed have led this campaign.

They were the ones who stood up and said that in years gone past people from regional communities had just copped it and accepted that because they lived where they lived they were not going to have childcare options. They were the ones who stood up and said, 'That is not good enough. We want to see action from government.' We accepted that that is right.

Because they have driven this in their local community and because they have had support from state and federal governments and a local member who was more willing to actually work together with the state government, give us the space to get it done and give us time, rather than jump out at the first opportunity and score a really easy political point, what we have today is a solution for the Kingston South East community that will last many, many years. The 83 places we have—50 for long day care, 33 for preschool—will serve not only existing demand but the demand for many years to come in that community.

I want to thank everyone who has managed to make this happen. I am really hopeful that this gives us the model now that we can adopt and take into other parts of our state. We know that childcare deserts are not unique to the member for MacKillop's area. I do want to thank him and everyone else involved for what is something that we have achieved in the Kingston South East area that we should all be very proud of.