Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Liverpool) (21:09): Term 4 started with a bang in Liverpool this week as Gulyangarri Public Preschool opened its doors to families. I cannot overstate how momentous this occasion was for Liverpool. I was honoured to join the Premier and Deputy Premier to cut the ribbon on this new service, which will be high quality and, importantly, free for up to 80 children and their families each week. The preschool is designed to promote children's early development including fine motor and gross motor skills, critical thinking and problem solving. It is designed with children front and centre, which is what they deserve.

Gulyangarri Public School was opened on day one, term 1 this year. With the attached preschool coming online, our Government is making significant strides to establishing what I have coined a "cradle to PhD" education precinct in our CBD, complete with a redeveloped co-educational high school, three university campuses and a TAFE. As part of the broader Liverpool Health and Academic Precinct, we are reimagining and revolutionising what it looks like to live, study and work in Liverpool. This is the first of 100 free public preschools that the Minns Labor Government will build by 2027 across New South Wales, with another four to be built across Liverpool. I must highlight that an independent assessment process clearly identified areas of need across our State to determine those locations.

I am extraordinarily proud that Liverpool is the first community to access this important service. That is quite a reversal, because south-west Sydney consistently missed out for 12 years. I look forward to my colleagues experiencing the same feeling of excitement when they start cutting ribbons on preschools in their electorates. Those preschools will make a real difference to the lives of so many families across New South Wales, and they are a monumental step forward in the Government's project to deliver universal preschool to children across our State. Research tells us just how important early education is to setting up our kids for a bright future. We know just how critical the first 2,000 days of a child's life are for their physical, cognitive, social and emotional health. That time is strongly predictive of a child's future learning outcomes, future health conditions and risk of future substance abuse.

We simply cannot afford to let any child fall through the cracks. That is why this free public option is so vital for families like those in my electorate. For many in Liverpool, the cost of child care can be prohibitive, causing them to opt out of a service that we know is so important. The rollout of 100 free public preschools across the State is a lifeline for their kids' futures. The people I speak to in Liverpool know that. At a recent meeting of the 2168 Roundtable—an initiative I put together to devise and deliver real solutions for some of our most historically neglected suburbs—the verdict was clear: Public preschooling is a game changer for families. With the 2168 postcode receiving three public preschools—at Miller, Heckenberg and Cartwright—the impact on families in this area, which was long neglected by those opposite, will be immeasurable.

An additional public preschool at Cecil Hills is appropriate for what is one of the fastest growing parts of my electorate. It will also service workers at the new Western Sydney airport, which will come online in a few short years. As homes continue to pop up in Elizabeth Hills and Cecil Hills, new families will rely on that service for their kids' upbringing. Preschool will help make the transition from early to primary education simpler and easier. It was disappointing, to say the least, to hear members of the Opposition claim credit for Gulyangarri preschool, when they made no undertaking to ensure that this service would remain in public hands and affordable for local families. I remind them that after 12 years in government they built zero public preschools in New South Wales. We know it is only under a Labor government that communities like mine can have confidence in the delivery of public services locally. The five public preschools we will receive are a testament to that fact.

I thank principal Ian Tapuska, deputy principal Jodie Field and all the staff at the new Gulyangarri preschool and the teachers who will receive those young students into the future at Gulyangarri Public School. Their dedication to our kids and to the broader project of delivering an innovative precinct in our CBD has an impact on our children that is too large to assign a number to. The Labor Government, including me, is committed to partnering with those teachers and staff to build a better future for Liverpool. With four additional preschools on the way, and Miller Public School Preschool out for tender and set to begin construction in early 2025, I look forward to delivering this essential service to even more families in my community.

Mr PAUL SCULLY (Wollongong—Minister for Planning and Public Spaces) (21:13): I acknowledge the advocacy of the member for Liverpool. I do not think people understand what a transformative difference the co-location of public preschools with public schools can make in communities like those the member and I have the great honour of representing. It is a genuinely life-changing experience for the kids involved. By providing kids with early learning skills and transitioning them effectively into lifelong learning from their earliest years, we will give them the greatest possible opportunity in life. Government members are absolutely thrilled that we have not only opened the first public preschool but also opened it in Liverpool. We have 99 more to come, including four in the electorate of Wollongong, which I am looking forward to. But every child who goes through that public education will see a marked difference in their possibilities in life. It is all about that opportunity.