Federal Member for Throsby Stephen Jones today visited Cringila Childrens House to announce a $97,724.90 grant from the Labor Government to fund wage increases for its employees.

This funding is about making sure we can keep providing affordable child care for local families and that those who care for our kids can afford to take care of their own, said Jones.

Its not good enough to leave early learning and development in the hands of childhood educators but do nothing about the low levels of pay attached to it.

The grant will help Cringila Childrens House attract and retain qualified early childhood educators and teachers to make sure our kids are getting the best start in life.

The Centre is one of hundreds across Australia which have begun to receive grant offers under the Federal Labor Governments $300 million Early Years Quality Fund.

The grants will deliver a $114 per week pay increase for Certificate III qualified educators with proportional increases across the classification scale.

Stephen Jones said the grants were a first step towards the development of a professional early childhood workforce and built on the Federal Labor Governments record investment to support families to access quality, affordable child care.

The Rudd Labor Government increased the Child Care Rebate from 30% to 50% of child care costs up to $7500 per child per year.

We are taking real action to improve the flexibility and accessibility of child care for families, yet after six years in opposition, Tony Abbott and the Coalition have no child care policies, except to call a review.

The Early Years Quality Fund is already funded in the budget.

Further information on the is available atwww.deewr.gov.au/early-years-quality-fund