Early Childhood Australia October 2025
Submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative
EVERY YOUNG CHILD IS THRIVING AND LEARNING
About us
Early Childhood Australia (ECA) is a not-for-profit, membership-based organisation that was first incorporated in 1938. As the national peak body for young children, we work nationally and locally, with active State and Territory Committees in each Australian jurisdiction and a National Board of Directors.
Our vision is that every young child is thriving and learning. To achieve this, we champion the rights of young children to thrive and learn at home, in the community, within early learning settings and through the early years of school. Our work builds the capacity of our society and the early childhood sector to realise the potential of every child during the critical early years from birth to the age of eight.
ECA acknowledges the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our society, the past and current injustices and realities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia, and the enduring strength of their cultures and identities. We commit to being at the forefront of achieving a reconciled nation that values, respects and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being.
Find out more at: www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
Contact
Samantha Page
CEO, Early Childhood Australia
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Janet Williams-Smith,
General Manager, Inclusion and Early Intervention
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Acknowledgement of Country
Early Childhood Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and to the Elders both past and present.
Background
This submission focuses on the Thriving Kids Initiative in context to early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings for children aged up to eight years of age and their families
As the national peak body for early childhood, ECA is well-positioned to provide commentary on the emerging Thriving Kids Initiative, and we would be happy to provide more expansive comments on request.
ECA deliver a NDIS Partner in the Community (PITC) program in the Darwin-Urban Region, also being the Inclusion Agency delivering the Inclusion Support Program (ISP) across the breadth of the Northern Territory (NT). The delivery of early supports across the NT have been further developed through the expansion of the Envisage Peer Parent and First Peoples support program.1
ECA is the national delivery partner (with Beyond Blue and Headspace) for the Be You national mental health in education initiative supporting mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, specifically serving early childhood services who work with children from birth to five years of age.
ECA is also an active member on the Steering Committee for the Australian Child and Family Supports Alliance (AC&FSA), which is a national coalition of over 45 organisations, researchers, and peak bodies committed to improving outcomes for children and families.
Context
It is widely accepted that early childhood is a transformational time to support and guide children and families to thrive and for children to reach their full capability, preferably in mainstream, local community settings alongside all other children and families.
The initial intention to invest in a foundational support system (now Thriving Kids Initiative) is a critical component of major policy reform in the early childhood sector with significant implications in the delivery of early childhood education and care (ECEC).
Defining, designing and delivering enhanced, enriched provisions within existing services for children with developmental delay outside of the NDIS, in a universal, mainstream setting will require a social construct shift from current practice and policy that has inadvertently eroded early childhood early intervention services across the nation through the introduction of the NDIS.
In what ways will Thriving Kids be complementary or replace elements of existing programs? What may be the intended and unintended consequences of the implementation of this reform for young children, their families, early childhood education and care educators, services, providers and the broader health and social service systems? These are important questions.
The plethora of policy reviews, inquiries and evaluations commissioned by the Australian Government over the last three years have resulted in significant social and economic policy recommendations to all levels of government on the opportunities to reform the early childhood sector (education and care, workforce, health, child protection, family support and social services). The NDIS Review (2023), the Inclusion Support Program Review (2023) and the Productivity Commission Inquiry (2024), in particular, have revealed
1 Envisage. (n.d.) Empowering families. https://envisage.community/
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substantial gaps in the inclusion and support of many children in mainstream ‘natural’ settings. 2 3 4 Calls for more enhanced, streamlined, integrated service provision, steering away from an individualised medical, ‘treatment’ model have been evident. Former Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, the Hon Bill Shorten speaking of the NDIS said, ‘shifting the focus on learning to swim in the ocean not clamouring to board the only lifeboat in the ocean’.5
The National Early Years Strategy (2024 – 2034) released in May 2024 provides an overarching framework for government with a vision to ‘support better decision making on policies and programs that affect young children.’ Acknowledging the early childhood system is fragmented and complex, the framework ‘provides the foundation to focus, realign and better coordinate the Australian Government’s investments in the early years, in the interests of children’s wellbeing’. 6
Terms of Reference for the House of Representatives Inquiry
The Terms of Reference of the Inquiry present the frame for this response.
- Examine evidence-based information and resources that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children.
- Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) programs and initiatives that identify children with development delay, autism or both, with mild to moderate support needs and support them and their families. This should focus on community and mainstream engagement, and include child and maternal health, primary care, allied health playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools.
- Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse.
- Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids.
- Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice.
- Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with mild to moderate support needs.
Response to the Terms of Reference
1. Information, resources and pathways for parents
Resources
Clear, accurate (evidence based), information and resources need to be developed and made available to parents and carers in local universal service settings (early childhood education and care, preschool, local community health centres, MCHN, Libraries, Child and Family Centre Hubs, schools) and online platforms.
2 Australian Government. (2023). NDIS Review. Working together to deliver the NDIS. Our final report. A guide for people with disability and their families. https://www.ndisreview.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/ndis-final-report-guide.pdf 3 Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE). (2023, September). Review of the Inclusion Support Program. Final report. https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/resources/inclusion-support-program-review-final-report 4 Australian Government Productivity Commission. (2024, September). A pathway to universal early childhood education and care. Inquiry report. Report no. 106. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/childhood/report/ 5 Shorten, B. (2022, June 12). Minister Shorten interviews on ABC Insiders [transcript]. https://ministers.dss.gov.au/transcripts/8266 6 Australian Government. (2024). Early years strategy 2024-2034. https://www.dss.gov.au/early-years-strategy/resource/early-years-strategy-2024-2034
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This information needs to support families to not only identify developmental differences but provide tips, advice and guidance on what they can do and where to find the right places that will help them support maximising their child/ren’s development.
Information should be easily accessible, culturally appropriate and in plain and first languages. These resources need to be co-designed with families and provide guidance to local/place-based services that are proximal to the daily life of families.
Alignment also needs to be ensured with existing frameworks such as the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and more recently, the Best Interest Practice Frameworks in Early Childhood Intervention. 7 8
Pathways
There is potential to expand the ECEC Inclusion Support Program, including the Inclusion Support Agencies (ISAs) in every jurisdiction, to work across services and systems providing navigation or ‘connector’ supports (the in-between services) to families and advice to educators on referral pathways. A renamed ‘Inclusion and Diversity Program’ with additional capability could be established quickly, building on the existing governance, management and infrastructure in the ISAs. These services can then map local community service provisions (similar to the Ask Izzy app) and support the establishment of local peer support networks.9
Inclusion Professionals within the Inclusion Support Program currently work within early childhood education and care services to provide guidance and advice to education teams to support inclusive practice. This includes support to include children with developmental or disability related needs as well as culturally diverse families, LGBTQI+ families and children that warrant unique or specialist support due to giftedness. The Inclusion Professionals assist with the development of strategic inclusion plans, access to additional educator funding, upskilling educator teams and facilitating access to assessment, early intervention or family support. The role of Inclusion Professionals could be expanded to include the use of screening tools (such as ASQ-TRAKS) and/or the delivery of programs (such as Inklings) working more directly with children and families, alongside the ECEC service team.
2. Current Programs and Initiatives
Universal service systems (e.g., ECEC and MCHN) and local community provision need to be enhanced and resourced to become more accessible to ALL children. Applying an equity approach in mainstream services such as ECEC will need to be properly resourced and sustained to be progressive and proactive so that there is a preparedness and readiness for when children arrive, acting and not reacting, and ensuring that children are not excluded.
It is ECA’s view that a two-pronged approach is required to build the capability of early childhood educators and leaders through training and professional learning to better understand and respond to the developmental needs of children in their communities; and as complementary, the linking of services to provide a multi-disciplinary approach through one door.
Using appropriate data sets such as the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Family Education and Occupation Index (FOEI) and others, could help identify
7 Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE). (2022). Belonging, being and becoming. The early years learning framework for Australia, V2.0. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/EYLF-2022-V2.0.pdf 8 Australian Government Department of Health, Ageing and Disability. (2025). National best practice framework. https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/national-best-practice-framework-for-early-childhood-intervention-resources-for-people-working-with-children 9 Australian Government Department of Health, Ageing and Disability. (2025, July 16). Ask Izzy. https://www.health.gov.au/contacts/ask-izzy
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‘cohorts of complexity’ that would better enable a proactive approach in areas of high complexity. The Victorian School Readiness Funding Model is a good example of this kind of proportionate universalism.10
ECEC, supported and community playgroups, parent/peer support groups (both face to face and online), child and family centre hubs (where there are some) and local community services and gathering spaces such as libraries and community centres need to be resourced to uplift their reach and maintain their provision to include children that who may need additional and/or specific support to access and participate.
Example: ASQ Trak Screening Tool use in the Inclusion Support Program
The NT Inclusion Support Agency (operated by ECA) has trained two Inclusion Professionals in the use of the ASQ Trak screening tool so that they can apply the tool in ECEC settings in remote Aboriginal communities where access to assessment and intervention specialists is limited. The tool is useful for both family engagement and identifying early indicators of developmental differences. The results of an ASQ Trak assessment can help to inform program planning, learning and care both within the ECEC setting and in the home environment, as well as supporting or substantiating referrals to other services when appropriate. This enhances the effectiveness of the inclusion support agency and attends to the needs of the children and families in that community.
The barriers to broader application of this approach include the cost of the training and the capacity of the inclusion agencies to travel to remote communities across jurisdictions. It is also not clear whether developmental assessments such as these would be appropriate and supported by the Inclusion Support Program at scale.
The early identification of developmental differences can enable effective early intervention where warranted, but it should begin with a contextualised or inclusive understanding of child development which allows for a multiplicity of underlying factors. For example, a child who speaks very little at 3 years of age may have a speech delay or may be intellectually gifted, they may have experienced trauma, or they may have a very loving family in which their needs are met with little need for speech. Here time and attention would be needed to identify whether the child is developing at their own pace or would benefit from additional support or early intervention. We should be cautious and strengths-based when working with the family. We should not ‘medicalise’ the child’s development or be too quick to apply a label or diagnosis.
It is ECA’s view that enhanced and progressive provisions are needed, informed by the families, the local community and reliable and comprehensive data. Monitoring and assessing child development should be an intrinsic part of a high quality ECEC service. Building early developmental screening into a mainstream ECEC setting whether that be via educators’ assessments and observations or multi-disciplinary teams being available, on site, in the program, has the potential to de-medicalise child development.
If the Thriving Kids Initiative is delivered through the portal of allied health with a diagnostic requirement, there is a risk that this may become a triage system for the NDIS, not an enriched and broadened provision of mainstream, natural, responsive ECEC settings.
10 State Government of Victoria. (n.d.) 2 year planning guide 2025-2026. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/providers/funding/SRF Planning Guide 2025-26.pdf
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3. Equity and Intersectional Issues
Systemic change – Proportionate Universalism
Australia collects rich demographic, economic, social, and educational data that, if used comprehensively, could help identify ‘cohorts of complexity’, not just individual children that may have developmental delays. This data could direct equity funding in areas that have greater need, for example in the NT where there are many, many young children live in areas where there are few, if any services (‘thin markets’).
Aside from intersectional issues, such as cultural and linguistic diversity, social and historical inequities, many young children are living in poverty with food insecurity, homelessness, family violence and financial stress that further compounds issues of access into current social/educational/health service systems.
It is ECA’s view that change is needed. Existing services should be richly resourced, place-based, informed and, where possible, run by people/services from the local community who are familiar with and understand the culture of the community. Investment in existing community strength factors such as older family/community members, and building on the existing and trusted service footprint is key to the provision of services that will be valuable and effective for the children and families who use them. Additionally, outreach multi-disciplinary support (including transport and accommodation) should be factored into funding models.
Where services do not already exist, investments such as the Building Early Education Fund should prioritise access for children at risk of missing out on high quality universal early childhood education and care – combining or collocating with State/Territory funded programs including preschool/kindergarten and schools, as well as playgroup and family support programs. Where population density makes it feasible and there is community adversity, these new services could be integrated child and family centre hubs. However, there are many small communities where the numbers of young children are too small or too variable to warrant this model – visiting or mobile Child and Maternal Health and allied health services can work collaboratively with very small ECEC services in rural and remote communities, without requiring a formal hub model.
It is ECA’s view that for ECEC to be truly universally available to all, changes are necessary to the funding and service models in some areas according to context. For example, in remote communities where there is little to no employment, ECEC needs to be fully subsidised, parents and families are welcome to attend and stay, and the provision is holistic (food, bathing, family support, education and care and developmental screening). Some communities do not ‘value’ centre based long day care, and they do not ‘need’ it. However, they would likely support a high-quality early childhood education provision, differently configured, that meets the needs of children, families and their communities.
4. Workforce development and training
To enhance professional development, particularly to support a multi-disciplinary and ‘inclusion ready’ workforce, we suggest investing in interdisciplinary practice guidelines together with coaching approaches that can demonstrate how to overlay skills and capabilities. For example, partnerships between early childhood professionals and speech pathologists could enhance the capabilities of both to create language-rich environments and resources that can assist parents, carers and educators to respond to common areas of difficulty in speech and language development. Similarly, educators and OTs could work together to enhance ergonomically inclusive education and care environments, or educators and social workers might collaborate on resources to support challenging conversations with families related to child development.
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There is good reason to utilise early childhood educator pedagogical knowledge and expertise and relationships and proximity to families and children to provide the platform/portal to deliver high quality, enhanced education and care. This could include developmentally responsive planning and programming, defined by the needs of the children and families attending. Once again, we believe that there is an opportunity to expand the remit and reach of the current Inclusion Support Program (ISP) to provide professional learning and support to ECEC services to increase capability and capacity to provide inclusive services.
There is also the potential to support collaborations between the Inclusion Support Agencies and the Registered Training Organisations to provide culturally contextual ECEC qualification training for people in remote communities to build and sustain a local workforce.
5. Domestic and international policy experience and best practice
The Australian Government has commissioned a plethora of reviews, strategies, frameworks and inquiries into the various programs, services and provisions for children, that have produced many recommendations that lean into the Thriving Kids Initiative.
There are also several key sector frameworks and standards from the ECEC service system that are pertinent to Thriving Kids.
- The Inclusion Support Program Review11
- Productivity Commission Inquiry into ECEC12
- The National Early Years Learning Framework13
- Child Safe Standards and the ECEC Review of Child Safety14
Bruce Bonyhayd and Mark Considine’s paper on Formal Relational Contracts and Commissioning of Complex Public Services is a progressive paper that could inform how government proceeds in engaging the care and education sector to provide complex human services.15 This model of contracting boasts:
- Shared insight into service improvement
- Greater capacity to include the voice of users/citizens and respond to changing circumstances
- Capacity to experiment and innovate while the services are on foot
- Goal alignment between providers through an agreed governance structure that provides a means for the members of the supply chain to see what others are achieving and seek to enhance overall system performance
- A greater level of mutual engagement between the parties. This enables joint development of collective assets such as training, better and cheaper regulatory oversight through transparency, and assists flexibility through the ability to share capacity between different suppliers.
11 Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE). (2023, September). Review of the Inclusion Support Program. Final report. https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/resources/inclusion-support-program-review-final-report 12 Australian Government Productivity Commission. (2024, September). A pathway to universal early childhood education and care. Inquiry report. Report no. 106. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/childhood/report/ 13 Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE). (2022). Belonging, being and becoming. The early years learning framework for Australia, V2.0. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/EYLF-2022-V2.0.pdf 14 Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE). (2025, June 19). National child safety review – new sector guidance. https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/announcements/national-child-safety-review-new-sector-guidance 15 Considine, M. (2025). Formal relational contracts and the commissioning of complex public services. The University of Melbourne. https://doi.org/10.26188/28544528.v1
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’When the economic achievements of the relationship between the parties extend over time there will be greater net benefit in any investment in service improvement, because ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ understanding will be more likely’.
6. Seamless transition through mainstream systems
From conception to school, children and families traverse through many service systems from hospitals to community health, immunisation programs, MCHN, early childhood education and care, playgroups and more.
If children present in any of these places with any kind of developmental delay, they should not have to wait for a diagnosis to get help or be referred somewhere to sit on a waiting list, missing the biggest developmental window of opportunity in their lives.
In the places that they are there needs to be information, navigation, support, connection and service provision. There needs to be a place for them that is ready and waiting.
Service collaboration between sectors needs to be properly funded, not reliant on the goodwill or personal commitments of the people that lead and operate services. It needs to be place-based and built on the knowledge, history and culture of the communities the children are living in, and it needs to be contextual to the daily lives of children. A one cutter size approach simply will not work because the daily lives of Australian children are vastly different, nor will it adequately serve children and families. Additionally, information sharing protocols need to be established so that families do not have to ‘tell their story’ again and again.
Conclusion
This is a once in a generation opportunity for deep policy reform in early childhood education and care, and as such, that requires careful and enduring stewardship. The ten-year Early Years Strategy could surely provide the framework for this reform, given its broad reach and reflecting considerable engagement across service delivery systems.
The primary intention and purpose of the Thriving Kids Initiative must be the inclusion of ALL children in natural, mainstream settings, not a drive to steer children away from the NDIS.
Some children need more than others, and support for some children carries a higher cost.
Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is required to provide diverse early childhood education and care programs and services that considers and reflects inclusive practices for all children including (but not limited to), neurodiversity, trauma, psychosocial, behavioural and developmental challenges, children at risk of abuse and neglect, geographically isolated children, children in out-of-home-care, and children living in intergenerational cycles of low expectations, poverty and disadvantage.
ECA believes that the Thriving Kids Initiative should be embedded into primary, mainstream, universal services, led by distinct community need.
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