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1. What was proposedCaitlin ToughLabor · Government backbench
   Read the original wording (410 words)

   That this Assembly: (1) notes that: (a) the first five years of a child’s life are critical to brain development; (b) high quality early childhood education and care play a critical role in supporting children to learn and grow; (c) preschool programs help children learn through play and activities to develop language, thinking, physical, social, self-regulation and problem- solving skills; (d) research shows that children who participate in quality preschool programs are more likely to be ready to start school; (e) higher levels of educational success, employment and social skills have been linked to participation in quality early childhood education; (f) early childhood educators and preschool teachers play a vital role in the education of young children and are a critical workforce; (g) the ACT Government is providing Canberra three-year-olds with up to 300 hours of free preschool; (h) the ACT Government provides 30 hours a fortnight of free public preschool to all four-year-olds in the year before they start school, either in the form of a three-day/two-day split over the fortnight or 2.5 days a week; (i) families often find it difficult to manage the preschool year balancing the hours of preschool with work and responsibilities; and (j) many children attend both a public preschool and an early childhood education and care service, or choose to attend a non-government run early learning centre with extended hours to allow parents to balance work and care responsibilities while giving their children access to high quality preschool programs; (2) further notes that: (a) the ACT is trialling outside of school hours care provided by external providers onsite in public preschools; (b) access to outside of hours care for preschool students should not be determined by where they live and the services available in their preschool catchment area; and (c) ACT Labor committed at the election to work with the preschool sector to roll out supervised before and after preschool care at public four-year-old preschools; and (3) calls on the ACT Government to: (a) start engaging with the early childhood education sector, parents and preschools to explore what is needed to expand out of hours care for families; (b) explore options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students either onsite in preschools and/or through external outside of school care providers co-located or located close to preschools, such as those providers already providing outside of hours care to primary aged students; and (c) report back to the Assembly by the first sitting week of 2026.

2. Proposed changeJeremy HansonLiberal · Opposition18 March 2025

   Grouped by key words as: rewrote the proposal, changed a number or target, added reporting or consultation, turned an action into a review.

   The exact wording of this change

   together: 1. After paragraph (1)(j), insert the following new paragraphs: “(k) the Report on Government Services 2025 shows that the ACT weekly cost of 50 hours of government Child Care Subsidy approved childcare services is the highest of all jurisdictions in Australia. Across all areas for 2024, the ACT records a cost of $760 a week for centre-based day care. This is compared to the national cost of $668 a week (almost 14 percent higher). For the ACT, this is an increase of $150 from $610 in 2015; (l) the Report on Government Services 2025 outlines the Serious Incidents per 100 National Quality Framework approved services for 2023-2024. The ACT is recorded to have 235 incidents across all service types, the highest out of any jurisdiction in Australia. The national figure is 148.1. For 2022-2023, the ACT had a figure of 189.8, an almost 24 percent difference; (m) on December 16 last year, The Canberra Times reported that childcare centres are choosing not to opt into the federal government’s $3.6 billion grants program to fund pay rises. They reference that the grants are supposed to cover at least 20 percent of additional costs, but the sector reports that they do not cover actual costs;”. 2. Omit all text after paragraph (2)(c), substitute: “(3) calls on the ACT Government to: (a) start engaging with the early childhood education sector, parents and preschools to explore what is needed to expand out of hours care for families; (b) explore options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students either onsite in preschools and/or through external outside of school care providers co-located or located close to preschools, such as those providers already providing outside of hours care to primary aged students and current Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) providers; (c) in examining the suitability of options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students, address: (i) why ECEC services in the ACT are the most expensive in the country and how government will ensure the ECEC services engaged to provide out of hours care for preschools are affordable for families; (ii) why the ACT has experienced the highest number of serious incidents in ECEC centres in the country, why the number of incidents is increasing so significantly and how the government plans to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring; and (iii) how many ACT ECEC providers, including out of hours care providers are currently participating in the federal government’s $3.6 billion grant program, and if not, why not; and how it interacts with the ACT government’s three-year-old preschool program, and (d) report back to the Assembly by the first sitting week of 2026.”.

   Agreed on the voices. No individual votes were recorded. Its wording is in the final text.

3. Change to Jeremy Hanson's changeFiona CarrickIndependent · Crossbench18 March 2025

   Grouped by key words as: added a new call or point.

   The exact wording of this change

   to Mr Hanson’s proposed amendment No 2: Omit paragraph (3)(a), substitute: “(a) start engaging with the early childhood education sector, parents and preschools to explore what is needed to expand out of hours care for families, including understanding parents and providers concerns about the preschool hours split process and how it interacts with wraparound care, and resulting issues.”. Debate continued.

   Agreed on the voices. No individual votes were recorded. Its wording is in the final text.

4. What the Assembly decidedAgreed

   Decided on the voices: no individual votes were recorded, so this doesn’t show that every MLA agreed.

   Final agreed wording, with changes marked

   That this Assembly: (1) notes that: (a) the first five years of a child’s life are critical to brain development; (b) high quality early childhood education and care play a critical role in supporting children to learn and grow; (c) preschool programs help children learn through play and activities to develop language, thinking, physical, social, self-regulation and problem- solving skills; (d) research shows that children who participate in quality preschool programs are more likely to be ready to start school; (e) higher levels of educational success, employment and social skills have been linked to participation in quality early childhood education; (f) early childhood educators and preschool teachers play a vital role in the education of young children and are a critical workforce; (g) the ACT Government is providing Canberra three-year-olds with up to 300 hours of free preschool; (h) the ACT Government provides 30 hours a fortnight of free public preschool to all four-year-olds in the year before they start school, either in the form of a three-day/two-day split over the fortnight or 2.5 days a week; (i) families often find it difficult to manage the preschool year balancing the hours of preschool with work and responsibilities; (j) many children attend both a public preschool and an early childhood education and care service, or choose to attend a non-government run early learning centre with extended hours to allow parents to balance work and care responsibilities while giving their children access to high quality preschool programs; (k) the Report on Government Services 2025 shows that the ACT weekly cost of 50 hours of government Child Care Subsidy approved childcare services is the highest of all jurisdictions in Australia. Across all areas for 2024, the ACT records a cost of $760 a week for centre-based day care. This is compared to the national cost of $668 a week (almost 14 percent higher). For the ACT, this is an increase of $150 from $610 in 2015; (l) the Report on Government Services 2025 outlines the Serious Incidents per 100 National Quality Framework approved services for 2023-2024. The ACT is recorded to have 235 incidents across all service types, the highest out of any jurisdiction in Australia. The national figure is 148.1. For 2022-2023, the ACT had a figure of 189.8, an almost 24 percent difference; and (m) on December 16 last year, The Canberra Times reported that childcare centres are choosing not to opt into the federal government’s $3.6 billion grants program to fund pay rises. They reference that the grants are supposed to cover at least 20 percent of additional costs, but the sector reports that they do not cover actual costs; (2) further notes that: (a) the ACT is trialling outside of school hours care provided by external providers onsite in public preschools; (b) access to outside of hours care for preschool students should not be determined by where they live and the services available in their preschool catchment area; and (c) ACT Labor committed at the election to work with the preschool sector to roll out supervised before and after preschool care at public four-year-old preschools; and (3) calls on the ACT Government to: (a) start engaging with the early childhood education sector, parents and preschools to explore what is needed to expand out of hours care for families, including understanding parents and providers concerns about the preschool hours split process and how it interacts with wraparound care, and resulting issuesCarrick; (b) explore options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students either onsite in preschools and/or through external outside of school care providers co-located or located close to preschools, such as those providers already providing outside of hours care to primary aged students and current Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) providers; (c) in examining the suitability of options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students, address: (i) why ECEC services in the ACT are the most expensive in the country and how government will ensure the ECEC services engaged to provide out of hours care for preschools are affordable for families; (ii) why the ACT has experienced the highest number of serious incidents in ECEC centres in the country, why the number of incidents is increasing so significantly and how the government plans to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring; and (iii) how many ACT ECEC providers, including out of hours care providers are currently participating in the federal government’s $3.6 billion grant program, and if not, why not; and how it interacts with the ACT government’s three-year-old preschool program, and (d) report back to the Assembly by the first sitting week of 2026.

   Original and final wording compared

   taken out put in

   That this Assembly: (1) notes that: (a) the first five years of a child’s life are critical to brain development; (b) high quality early childhood education and care play a critical role in supporting children to learn and grow; (c) preschool programs help children learn through play and activities to develop language, thinking, physical, social, self-regulation and problem- solving skills; (d) research shows that children who participate in quality preschool programs are more likely to be ready to start school; (e) higher levels of educational success, employment and social skills have been linked to participation in quality early childhood education; (f) early childhood educators and preschool teachers play a vital role in the education of young children and are a critical workforce; (g) the ACT Government is providing Canberra three-year-olds with up to 300 hours of free preschool; (h) the ACT Government provides 30 hours a fortnight of free public preschool to all four-year-olds in the year before they start school, either in the form of a three-day/two-day split over the fortnight or 2.5 days a week; (i) families often find it difficult to manage the preschool year balancing the hours of preschool with work and responsibilities; [taken out: and](j) many children attend both a public preschool and an early childhood education and care service, or choose to attend a non-government run early learning centre with extended hours to allow parents to balance work and care responsibilities while giving their children access to high quality preschool programs; [put in: (k) the Report on Government Services 2025 shows that the ACT weekly cost of 50 hours of government Child Care Subsidy approved childcare services is the highest of all jurisdictions in Australia. Across all areas for 2024, the ACT records a cost of $760 a week for centre-based day care. This is compared to the national cost of $668 a week (almost 14 percent higher). For the ACT, this is an increase of $150 from $610 in 2015; (l) the Report on Government Services 2025 outlines the Serious Incidents per 100 National Quality Framework approved services for 2023-2024. The ACT is recorded to have 235 incidents across all service types, the highest out of any jurisdiction in Australia. The national figure is 148.1. For 2022-2023, the ACT had a figure of 189.8, an almost 24 percent difference; and (m) on December 16 last year, The Canberra Times reported that childcare centres are choosing not to opt into the federal government’s $3.6 billion grants program to fund pay rises. They reference that the grants are supposed to cover at least 20 percent of additional costs, but the sector reports that they do not cover actual costs;](2) further notes that: (a) the ACT is trialling outside of school hours care provided by external providers onsite in public preschools; (b) access to outside of hours care for preschool students should not be determined by where they live and the services available in their preschool catchment area; and (c) ACT Labor committed at the election to work with the preschool sector to roll out supervised before and after preschool care at public four-year-old preschools; and (3) calls on the ACT Government to: (a) start engaging with the early childhood education sector, parents and preschools to explore what is needed to expand out of hours care for families, [put in: including understanding parents and providers concerns about the preschool hours split process and how it interacts with wraparound care, and resulting issues;](b) explore options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students either onsite in preschools and/or through external outside of school care providers co-located or located close to preschools, such as those providers already providing outside of hours care to primary aged students and [put in: current Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) providers;](c) [put in: in examining the suitability of options to expand out of hours care for all preschool students, address: (i) why ECEC services in the ACT are the most expensive in the country and how government will ensure the ECEC services engaged to provide out of hours care for preschools are affordable for families; (ii) why the ACT has experienced the highest number of serious incidents in ECEC centres in the country, why the number of incidents is increasing so significantly and how the government plans to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring; and (iii) how many ACT ECEC providers, including out of hours care providers are currently participating in the federal government’s $3.6 billion grant program, and if not, why not; and how it interacts with the ACT government’s three-year-old preschool program, and (d)]report back to the Assembly by the first sitting week of 2026.

   Compared word by word by computer, ignoring punctuation. It shows what differs, not which change made each difference; the steps above show that.