G8 Education has welcomed the release of the Productivity Commission’s report into the Early Childhood Education and Care sector that includes a range of recommendations for reform aimed at providing universal early learning and care access, within the means of all families, for education and childcare for all children up to five years old.

G8 Education Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Pejman Okhovat said G8 Education welcomes the Report recommendations that were announced in the address by Education Minister Jason Clare at the 2024 Early Childhood Australia conference and commends the work and the consultation undertaken by the Government and the Productivity Commission to deliver a roadmap to provide universal access to high-quality early childhood education and care.

“As a a leading provider of quality early learning education and care with more than 40,000 children in our centres every day, we are committed to providing high quality early learning and education for Australian children and families, and we will continue to work with the Federal Government and those in the sector to address access and affordability issues, and workforce challenges,” he said.

“We encourage the Government to move quickly to implement the key recommendations in the Report including removing the activity test, providing an enhanced level of support for low-income families and increasing inclusive support for all children all which support the aim of removing barriers to Early Childhood Education and Care access and support better outcomes for children and families.”

Mr Okhovat added, “We’re encouraged by the recommendations which come on the back of the Federal Government’s recently introduced laws to boost the wages of childcare workers by 15 per cent over two years in a bid to attract more people to the sector.”

“It’s widely recognised that high-quality early childhood education plays a pivotal role in ensuring positive outcomes later in life. G8 Education looks forward to continuing to consult and work closely with the Government and our sector to pave the way to deliver the long-term goal of providing universal early learning and care that will ensure the best possible outcome for children, families and educators working in the sector,” he said.

“We thank the Government and the productivity Commission for their hard work and commitment to deliver a comprehensive and robust Report.”