The Liberals have again promised to build a child and family learning centre in Smithton if re-elected, as part of an expanded early childhood services program across Tasmania.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff and MLC Jo Palmer visited Smithton today to outline plans for the centre, which would offer wraparound support services for families in the Circular Head region.
The Smithton facility is one of three new centres planned statewide, alongside centres in Scottsdale and Longford, forming part of a broader $50 million early childhood package.
Palmer said the centre, first promised at the last state election a year ago, would provide family support well beyond traditional childcare, with dedicated spaces for multiple services.
“Our CFLCs are not childcare. They are wraparound services for entire families,” she said.
“We have rooms … where chat nurses can come, where women’s legal services can come, where we can have speech therapists come and they can work with families … in that beautiful holistic way.”
The commitment aims to address critical gaps in services for rural communities, Palmer said, where families often struggle to get help with their children’s development.
Sophie Pilkington, a rural mother from the Arthur River area who has campaigned for the centre, said isolation makes accessing professional support especially tough.
“When you are isolated, it’s hard to get access to those resources, especially whether your kid’s at the right developmental stages,” she said.
“When we travel into town, we don’t have those facilities or places to go to be able to give the kids a run around … or even just connecting with other mums or other families … just talking about what you’re doing, whether it’s right.”
Lynette Dunlop, manager of Circular Head Children’s Services, said many rural families travel more than an hour to reach Smithton, only to find limited support once they get there.
“They will drop their child off to childcare, they have a young baby, they have nowhere else to go because we don’t have the child and family health centre,” she said.
“It’s a support network for [parents]. If they’re unsure of anything, they can build relationships. They can get support for their children. They can look at areas that they need help.”
The Liberals have also pledged $5 million for a new 200-place childcare centre in the Huon Valley and another $10 million to expand outside school hours care at multiple schools.
Palmer said ongoing workforce shortages in allied health were being tackled through international recruitment, with scholarships to attract professionals from overseas.
“We’ve gone to right around Australia, we’ve gone to New Zealand, I believe we actually even went to Canada and Ireland looking for opportunities for speech therapists and social workers to come to Tasmania,” she said.
Ten scholarships have already been awarded, with professionals now working in schools and family centres and another ten scholarships are on offer.
A recent audit of government land has identified various parcels that could soon be used for new childcare facilities.
“We’ve been able to identify land where we will be able to now partner with different childcare service providers to say, ‘We’ve got the land – you do the build, you run the service’,” Palmer said.
Community consultation for the Smithton centre would begin later this year if the Liberals win the election.
