Early Learning and Care Centres
The Australian Government is progressing the establishment of 38 Early Learning and Care Centres.
It has allocated $114.5 million over four years in the 2008-09 Budget to establish the centres (including six Autism-specific centres). The funding includes both the capital costs and the ongoing costs of establishing additional child care places, including Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Rebate.
Fact Sheet
The Fact Sheet provides background information on the Early Learning and Care Centres. It contains a list of the locations and links to the relevant announcements or arrangements as they become available. The fact sheet can be accessed in either PDF or RTF form by clicking on the relevant links below:
Requests for Proposal
Details of Requests for Proposal for Early Learning and Care Centres around Australia can be found on the Requests for Proposal page.
Current Progress
A complete list of locations, including links to media releases where announcements have been made, is available as a summary table below:
New South Wales
- Bondi Junction
- Fairlight
- Faulconbridge
- Hazelbrook
- Inner West Sydney
- Killara
- Milperra
- Newcastle
- North Ryde
- Queanbeyan
- South Western Sydney (Autism-specific centre)
Victoria
- Bendigo
- Broadmeadows (Tullamarine)
- Foster
- Craigieburn
- Port Melbourne
- Moe
- St Kilda
- Upwey
- Yarraville
- Melbourne (Autism-specific centre)
Queensland
- Amberley (Yamanto)
- Cairns
- Gladstone
- Townsville
- Weipa
- Brisbane (Autism-specific centre)
Western Australia
- Darch
- Karratha
- Mirrabooka
- Perth (Autism-specific centre)
Northern Territory
Tasmania
- Beaconsfield
- North West Tasmania (Autism-specific centre)
South Australia
- Adelaide (Autism-specific centre)
Program Guidelines
The objective of the Program is to increase the supply of integrated early childhood education and care in areas of unmet demand for child care.
The Program places a strong emphasis on connecting with schools to ensure all Australian children are fully prepared for learning and life. A copy of the guidelines is available below: