Great finally acknowledgement that as an Early Childhood Teacher our profession is indeed a pivotal one. Yes indeed only time will tell….however how sad for this budget to affect the next generation in this way. As a professional in my field I have spent the past 18 years encouraging others to acknowledge the role we play as important. And in one night this was crushed by our Government saying 80% funding is all we need. How can a centre provide quality education with only a percentage of knowledgeable staff. We employ well over the minimum regulation standards to ensure we provide a high quality centre. The government funding only covered the “minimum standards” not quality now this has been cut how do we support the 3 students we have in training and encourage them to finish their Teacher training when we cannot guarantee them a job at the end of it… this is a really sad affair. We were aiming to meet the governments own strategic plan and aiming for 100% qualified Teachers. We mentor our students to support them professionally and this is how we are treated as professionals. We are sad our profession has been treated this way. I only hope it doesn’t take another generation to see this is not alright for our future leaders.