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Though there is need for ongoing vigilance, Australia is showing great resilience in the face of COVID-19. The immediate task of surviving this health crisis is itself ferociously challenging but there is a second, nation-defining task that cannot be ignored: how to build back better. This is a test not only of management, but of imagination.

This should start with early childhood development. Around 90% of a person’s lifelong brain development occurs in the first five years. A more effective system of early childhood development impacts the trajectory of so many important areas of policy: education, health, workforce participation, economic productivity. Reimagining this system is a challenge uniquely suited to the post COVID nation build.

To contemplate reform to such a complex area of public policy, systems change is preferred to a gradual, sequential approach. Early childhood policy makers, academic experts and professionals have a strong sense of the characteristics of best practice in the early childhood development system.

We need to deliver universal access to child care and preschool. We need to improve the standards of our centres, 20% of which fall below national standards. We need an integrated service delivery, so parents can access those services they need in one place. The centres need to be community-led, as we acknowledge the importance of place. And we need our early childhood system to be connected to the education system, to ensure accountability and a smooth transition to the next stage of a person’s development.

If we want our children to be strong, capable, independent, curious, imaginative: we must invest in the early years. If we want our children to lead the world in literacy and numeracy: we must invest in the early years. If we want to prepare our children today to contribute to improved national productivity tomorrow: we must invest in the early years. We must invest in the early years, for the future of our nation.

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