It's great to be able to report in today's Tribune that the ACT and NSW governments have - finally - reached agreement to reinstate free breast screens for eligible patients in the ACT.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As a federally-funded program, it should never have made a difference whether a patient's address was ACT or NSW, and it is great to have this finally cleared up. Councillor Jasmin Jones deserves congratulations for taking on the politicians and pushing this issue along to resolution. The Tribune is also pleased to have highlighted the issue and played a role in the positive outcome.
But today we've had to a reveal a short-sighted and stingy move by the state government to cut funding to three-year-old programs at preschools.
The cuts will have a huge impact, and not just on our youngsters.
Study after study has proven that preschool has extensive benefits for children - to put it simply, the right start means better outcomes in later years of schooling.
In a resource-rich country like Australia, there is no excuse for short-changing our young people on their schooling.
The claim that the restructure in funding is to better target funds to disadvantaged five-year-olds is ludicrous. Disadvantaged prechoolers should have been looked after in the first instance, not at the cost of every child being able to access preschool. The implication that three-year-old preschool is not important is a sad indictment on Education Minister Adrian Piccoli.
It's a backwards move and should be repealed immediately.
