Huonville will get a new early learning centre with up to 200 places for children, built next to Huonville Primary School.
The project is jointly funded by the federal and state governments and the Huon Valley Council. Construction is due to start by mid-2027 and the centre is due to open in the first half of 2028.
The state government has provided the land and $5 million, matched by $5 million from the federal government, with the council covering the remaining cost.
Education Minister Jo Palmer said the centre would include 130 long day care places, plus outside school hours care.
“This is a game changer for families in this area,” she said.
Palmer said the site would create an education precinct for the Huon Valley, with children able to move from early learning through to Year 12.
Federal Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh said the centre was part of the Commonwealth’s $1 billion Building Early Education Fund.
She said the federal government was investing $36 million in Tasmania, building six childcare centres on school grounds and supporting two other early learning services.
The other new centres will be built at Westbury Primary, St Marys District School, Rosetta Primary, Bruny Island and Bothwell District High School.
Tasmanian federal MP Julie Collins committed $5 million to the centre at the last federal election and said there was a waitlist for childcare in the area.
“We know these childcare places will be taken up immediately for those families that are relying on them,” Collins said.
Huon Valley Mayor Sally Doyle said the new centre would replace the council-run childcare centre known as the Cottage, nearly doubling its capacity.
Doyle said the council also ran centres in Dover and Geeveston, which relied on support from the larger Huonville service.
“Dover is a small town, but is really important to the women that are there, that they deserve to be able to go to work,” she said.
The council expects to appoint a builder in the coming month.
Doyle said the centre would create up to 10 new full-time childcare jobs.
