Children with complex health and support needs are being locked out of early learning. The funding, policy, and workforce models that govern Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia were not designed to include them.

Right now, childcare that can safely and confidently include children with complex needs is almost impossible for families to find. The Child Care Subsidy doesn't account for non-standard attendance. The Inclusion Support Program doesn't adequately fund the higher staff-to-child ratios these children need. And most services don't have the training or resources to say yes.

The impact flows well beyond the child. Parents — predominantly mothers — are forced out of work and study. Family wellbeing declines. The long-term social and economic costs grow.

RippleAbility's respite centre pilot demonstrated that when early learning environments are designed to include children with complex needs, the benefits extend to the whole family: improved child development, parental workforce re-entry, and better carer wellbeing. But without policy reform, these outcomes can't scale.

This petition was originally lodged with the Australian Parliament as e-petition EN9415. It gained over 200 signatures in under 24 hours before being formally submitted to the House. This campaign continues that momentum, because the families behind those signatures deserve to be heard.

THE DATA

The data behind this petition is clear. One in five families of children with disability report being refused enrolment in childcare (CYDA, 2022). The government's own Inclusion Support Program reaches roughly 1% of children in ECEC, despite 6.3% having a disability or long-term health condition (Productivity Commission, 2024). The Disability Standards for Education (despite numerous independent reviews recommending it) don't even cover childcare services — only preschools and kindergartens — leaving long day care without clear legal obligations on inclusion. For families, the consequences are severe: 85% of primary carers of children with disability are mothers, and their employment rate sits 24 percentage points below the national average. On average, a primary carer loses $392,500 in lifetime earnings and $175,000 in superannuation (Carers Australia, 2022). The broader economy loses an estimated $15.2 billion annually in foregone productivity from carers forced out of paid work (Deloitte Access Economics, 2020). Meanwhile, the evidence shows that every $1 invested in early childhood education returns $2 in benefits, and children who access ECEC are half as likely to be developmentally vulnerable as those who don't (AIHW; The Front Project & PwC, 2019). The Productivity Commission has recommended an ECEC Inclusion Fund, abolition of the activity test, and extension of the Disability Standards to cover all childcare. The reform pathway exists. It just needs political will.

Sources:

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2022

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, People with Disability in Australia, 2025

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia's Children: Early Childhood Education and Care, 2024

Carers Australia & Evaluate, Caring Costs Us: The Economic Impact on Lifetime Income and Retirement Savings of Informal Carers, 2022

Children and Young People with Disability Australia, Taking the First Step in an Inclusive Life: Experiences of Australian Early Childhood Education and Care, 2022

Deloitte Access Economics, The Value of Informal Care in 2020, commissioned by Carers Australia

Productivity Commission, A Path to Universal Early Childhood Education and Care, Inquiry Report No. 106, June 2024

The Front Project & PwC, A Smart Investment for a Smarter Australia: Economic Analysis of Universal Early Childhood Education, 2019