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Local Government In Australia

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Background of Australian Government In Australia’s Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), the Commonwealth has responsibility for social security while state governments have primary responsibility for education (Press & Hayes, 2000). Thus, policy and funding matters related to different forms of ECEC services rest with different tiers of government (Press & Hayes, 2000). There is the local government, which is established and regulated by State and Territory parliaments (Press & Hayes, 2000). Australia has about 750 local government councils responsible for town planning, roads, streets and bridges, waste and sanitation services and community recreation facilities. Many, though not all, local governments in Australia are involved in …show more content…

During the 1940s and 1950s preschools, as they became known, began to emerge in middle class suburbs and were often managed by local parents. During the 1960s and 1970s, some State Governments became involved in the provision of preschool services. In both Victoria and New South Wales preschool provision remained largely in the hands of voluntary agencies (Brennan, 1998). Although preschool provision and operation were widespread, preschools largely failed to meet the needs of working mothers. A strong push for the provision of child care services to support working women developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A feminist advocacy for women’s rights seek in paid employment and researches on the number of children left without adequate supervision because of their parents’ need to work, and the needs of industry for access to women’s labour became a powerful impetus for governments to take child care provision seriously (Press & Hayes, 2000). As a result, the Commonwealth Minister for Labour and National Service introduced the Child Care Act 1972, which commenced Commonwealth involvement in the funding of child care programs beyond the Lady Gowrie Centres. From 1983 to 1990 child care provision was regarded as part of the social wage under the Commonwealth Labor Government where government-provided benefits and services (Press & Hayes, 2000). In 1990 the Commonwealth Labor Government extended the

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