The Tasmanian Liberal Government is delivering on its commitment to provide more services and support for Tasmanian families with young children.
As part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future, we've committed $32 million for four new supersized Child and Family Learning Centres (CFLCs) at Huonville, Longford, Scottsdale and Smithton, increasing our total number of CFLCs around the State to 22.
The proposed site for the Huonville CFLC is adjacent to Huonville Primary School, while the Dorset (Scottsdale) CFLC's proposed location is on the Scottsdale Primary School site.
These locations will allow for earlier engagement between families and schools, enabling smoother transitions as families move from CFLC programs to formal education.
Due to the availability and readiness of these sites, the construction of the Huonville and Dorset CFLCs is expected to commence in 2026, while planning for the Smithton and Longford CFLCs will start later this year with construction expected to begin in 2027.
Minister for Education, Jo Palmer, said we're already seeing the positive impacts our CFLCs are having on local communities across Tasmania.
"We know this unique model of wrap around care for families as they begin their education journey provides exceptional support with great outcomes," Minister Palmer said.
"Families will have free access to psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers, ensuring support for children to meet their developmental milestones and set them up for a life of learning.
"Importantly, these four new supersized CFLCs will feature additional space to enable partnering with early childhood education and care providers to deliver early education, long day care and vacation care, as well as outside of school hours care, where there is unmet demand for these services.
"Our Government is committed to giving children the best possible start in life and learning, and we've already delivered five new CFLCs across the State, with a sixth about to open.
"Importantly, we're not starting from scratch with these four new CFLCs, we will leverage the learnings from the 18 fantastic centres we've already developed to streamline design processes and combine this knowledge with input from local enabling groups to ensure they meet the needs of the community."
Community and stakeholder consultation, including the establishment of Local Enabling Groups, will inform the design of each new CFLC and the services they will provide.
Consultation will commence for Huonville and Dorset this month with consultation to commence for Smithton and Longford later in 2025.
Further assessments will be undertaken to determine the preferred sites for the new Smithton and Longford CFLCs, with these sites to be confirmed following assessment and consultation processes.
