Improving the health, wellbeing, education and care of Tasmania's children in their early years is a priority for the Tasmanian Liberal Government.
The Tasmanian Government is strengthening local communities by delivering on our $28 million commitment to build six new Child and Family Learning Centres across Tasmania.
Today, I had the opportunity to visit and walk through the new muylatina* centre co-located on the East Tamar Primary School site.
Like all our centres, muylatina has been community-led with local people involved in the process of designing and shaping the centre from the beginning.
Known as the Local Enabling Group, I thank all the community members for their hard work and dedication to guide this facility to fruition. It was fantastic to be able to tour this facility together for the first time.
Works commenced in late August 2021, with Tasmanian family-owned building firm Anstie Constructions delivering the new East Tamar centre.
Of course, these centres are much more than the physical buildings - they offer a variety of critical services all in one place to support families with young children from birth to age five.
The centres also provide wraparound support for our youngest learners and their parents and carers – from advice on health and family matters to access to education and training programs.
The East Tamar community has already experienced benefits from the centre through the establishment of strong collaborative partnerships during the building phase, support through community outreach, and the introduction of oral language and Bush Kinder programs that encourage children to learn and grow through play.
In 2021, our Government also committed to investing $3.82 million to provide more services for families within these centres. This includes speech and language pathologists, school psychologists and social workers, who are now working in our centres, connecting with families in their local community to support their learning and wellbeing.
This Government is strengthening the future for Tasmanians and I look forward to seeing the centre continue to grow and come alive it opens in 2023.
*Pronounced moy-lah-tee-nah.
