Community push brings Yarriambiack reward
Confirmation of Federal Government funding for a new Murtoa day-care centre has come in the wake of a meeting between Nationals parliamentarians and community representatives about the issue.
Member for Lowan Emma Kealy and Nationals Deputy leader Steph Ryan attended the meeting, which Yarriambiack Shire had organised to explore potential funding opportunities.
Ms Kealy said the meeting was in response to the State Government advising it was unlikely to support a funding application for a new childcare facility in Murtoa because the town was not in a ‘growth corridor’.
The meeting heard the council had planned to build a new childcare centre at the rear of a Murtoa Kindergarten on Marma Street.
However, with structural assessment showing the kindergarten building required extensive investment, the council was now exploring an option of co-locating the kindergarten and childcare centre to one site at Murtoa P-12 College – or on land near the college and Our Lady Help of Christians School.
Ms Kealy said Murtoa was in the unique situation of having childcare workers, pre-school children and land ‘ready to go’ – but was missing the required infrastructure to make the project a reality.
“It makes absolute sense to co-locate a new kindergarten and new childcare centre – and potentially incorporate maternal child-health services too – on one site,” she said
“Yarriambiack Shire Council has done an enormous amount of work to bring this project to fruition, including undertaking a condition assessment of the existing kindergarten building, which showed the facility requires a substantial amount of work and investment to bring it up to an acceptable standard. The council has committed $400,000 to fund this and now needs government funding to get the project over the line so local families can access the care they need.”
Ms Kealy said State Government rejection of the council’s previous approach for funding support was ‘completely’ unjustified.
“The Andrews Labor government must recognise that families in rural Victoria need access to childcare just as much as families living in what Labor defines as a ‘growth corridor’,” she said.
“And it’s simply unfair and neglectful to say we deserve anything less.
“I have met with ICU nurses, teachers and a dental nurse in the area who are all keen to return to the local workforce, but have been unable to do so simply because there is no childcare available in their local community.
“A new childcare facility in Murtoa will unlock this local workforce that is so desperately needed – these families just need our support to make this happen.
“The State Budget in May provides the government with an excellent opportunity to correct their neglect of local families in the past and provide the funding necessary to establish an early years children’s learning hub in Murtoa.”
Federal Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster had also met with the council and community and supported a council application to the Federal Government’s $19.4-million Community Child Care Fund.