The Victorian government's plan to expand its 'free kindergarten' program has been delayed due to teacher shortages. The construction of some government owned childcare centres has also been pushed back by at least four years. Experts say free kindergarten is already making a huge difference especially for vulnerable families.
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00:00Alisha McAway would be a different person if she hadn't sent her two daughters to this
00:07kindergarten.
00:08I'd be probably a mental and emotional wreck, yeah, we've been through a lot of hard times
00:20as every family has.
00:22Excited?
00:23Yes!
00:24Both girls have autism.
00:26When Liliana first started here, she barely spoke.
00:29How hard they put in to get them all school ready, nearly brings a tear to your eye.
00:38We know that without that relationship, children fall through the cracks, families fall through
00:44the cracks and this might be the first safe place that they've ever really had.
00:51These people are fans of the Victorian Government's free kinder program.
00:55The fact that all families can access an early childhood program, no matter what their
01:00financial status, is amazing.
01:03Free kinder for three and four year olds was supposed to double to 30 hours a week over
01:07the next five years, but yesterday's budget revealed that won't happen until 2036.
01:13The Government's plan to build 50 early learning centres has also been delayed.
01:18It's already happening in rural Victoria, it's already happening in many parts of metropolitan
01:23Melbourne.
01:24We've had to take a more gradual roll out.
01:27We need an additional 11,000 educators.
01:30It's not the only hurdle free kinder has faced.
01:34This community based kindergarten in Melbourne's east used to charge $4,000 a year for its
01:39three year old kinder program.
01:42Under the changes, it's now out of pocket more than $1,000 per child.
01:46We've had to ask parents to donate toilet paper and tissues and we've also had to cut
01:51back our cleaner from five days down to three days.
01:55They're calling on the state government to let them charge a gap fee, like New South
01:58Wales does.
01:59If we're unable to charge parents a gap fee, then community based kindergartens will eventually
02:05have to close.
02:06The budget also showed an increase of 10,000 children accessing free kinder this year.