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This week I woke up and wondered if I had been teleported to a sunny hill in Wellington (where many of my extended family lives).<\/p>\n
Not only was it windy and brisk, but the NSW<\/a> and Victorian<\/a> governments announced, on Thursday, a suite of early childhood measures that were a triumph of progressive policymaking and bipartisan cooperation.<\/p>\n Could it really be?<\/p>\n Both governments pledged that, within a decade, all children in NSW and Victoria would have access to five days a week of free preschool in the year before they start school.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a full year of play-based early education provided by the state, before a child begins school proper.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The joint announcement called it \u201cthe greatest transformation of early education in a generation\u201d, and for once, the political hyperbole matched reality.<\/p>\n The preschool education announcement was accompanied by related, but different, childcare reforms \u2013 both states have pledged to create more childcare centres in areas known as \u201cchildcare deserts<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Loading<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In NSW, those deserts are in western and south-western Sydney and regional areas \u2013 where there is only one childcare place for every three kids.<\/p>\n The twin childcare policies will interact with what the Albanese government has pledged on childcare funding federally \u2013 to make childcare cheaper for families earning under $530,000 a year (which is to say, nearly all families)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, criticised by some for sliding into office on a small-target agenda, has made explicit his intention to make universal free childcare one of his signature policies, over the long term. That\u2019s a pretty big reform.<\/p>\n On Friday, both The Age<\/em> and The Sydney Morning Herald<\/em><\/a> ran pieces about the unlikely bromance between Labor Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Liberal NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Following the first meeting of national cabinet following the change of government, Perrottet described the gathering as \u201crefreshingly collaborative\u201d.<\/p>\n The childcare reforms are excellent economic policy because they will lift women\u2019s workforce participation<\/a> and help end the absurd situation where many women pay more in childcare fees than they are paid to work.<\/p>\n The preschool reforms are excellent social policy \u2013 extensive research around the world has shown again and again that children who receive quality pre-school, play-based education have \u201cbetter outcomes\u201d over their lives.<\/p>\n In civilian terms, this means they are more successful at everything from mathematics to forming relationships as adults.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Early childhood is especially important in addressing inequality \u2013 for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, it makes an outsize difference in their development.<\/p>\n