Australian PM wants more childcare centres

Updated April 17, 2008 12:26:49

Prime Minister Rudd says access to parent and child centres will benefit all Australians. [AFP]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants this weekend's 2020 summit in the capital Canberra to discuss a plan to set up parent and child care centres across Australia.

The centres would provide day care, preschool learning and health services for all children up to the age of five, and would offer support programs to parents.

Mr Rudd says a successful national child care program benefit individuals and the nation.

"This proposal builds on the extensive research which has already been done on the critical impact of a child's early nurture, care and positive engagement and learning on every aspect of that child's later life," he told the Sydney Institute, a think tank in eastern Australia.

"We have already set ourselves the goal of introducing universal preschool services for all four-year-olds by 2013 - that's a commitment from the Government that I lead.

"We should aim, if we adopt the proposal I am putting forward, to take the next step and create universal and parent child centres for all children aged zero to five by 2020.

"Access to these parent and child centres will be universal but not compulsory and the quality of service provided will be strengthened by national quality standards.

"Some or all of the services offered could be supplied by the private sector and would be subject to competition between providers helping to drive quality up and prices down."

Mr Rudd says the benefits of a national approach to child care are considerable.

"[The plan provides] better quality care, that is underpinned by these strengthened national quality standards, the introduction of more four-year trained early childhood education professionals for all young children regardless of age [and] provision of education health and other support for children to make sure they are developing both physically and intellectually."