On Monday, Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff announced that the government had reversed its decision to lower the Tasmanian voluntary school starting age to three years and six months for kindergarten students. 

The starting age will now stay at five years old, but disadvantaged or vulnerable children will be offered 10 hours of free preschool a week from 2020 under the new Working Together for 3 Year Olds initiative. 

The program will receive $10.5 million each year in funding, in addition to recurrent funding of $4.9 million for extra support. 

The decision came after months of controversy from stakeholders over the proposal, and a poll commissioned by the United Voice union which found three quarters of people asked were against the lower age proposal. 

When asked about the decision in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Rockliff said “you call it a backflip, I call it listening”, following outpourings of relief from the majority of stakeholders. 

A KPMG report on the impact that changing the starting age could have on the childcare sector, released on Tuesday, found that for long day care providers, the total number of sessions delivered would fall by 26 per cent if the changes were implemented.

“The loss in fee income due to reduced sessions is likely to be greater than the corresponding reduction in wages,” the report found. 

“There was also concern that disadvantaged and vulnerable children would be lost in larger kindergartens.” 

It found services would receive about 25 per cent less revenue per year due to a reduction in fees and federal government subsidies. 

Mr Rockliff said the work undertaken as part of investigating a lower starting age would not be lost.

“We have found a way where we can, I believe, co-design earlier access for our kids in disadvantaged families to partake in quality, play-based, inquiry-led learning,” he said. 

“We’ve been listening the whole time and engaged the whole time, the sector has not been backward in coming forward in providing their views to me in various mediums.” 

The KPMG report cost about $350,000, but Opposition education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said the government’s policy was “ill-conceived and badly researched” to begin with. 

“All that has been achieved throughout this sorry chapter is immeasurable anxiety and distress for parents and students and teachers and the child care sector,” Ms O’Byrne said. 

Early Childhood Australia state president Jo Walsh described the flip as a win for Tasmanian children.

“Together we’ve been able to show the government the value of what we do in childcare settings, and that’s a really powerful message,” Ms Walsh said. 

“We were really concerned that kindergarten wasn’t the best place for children who were three and a half years old – kindergarten is in the school system and childcare is very different.” 

Commissioner for Children and Young People Mark Morrissey said the new initiative would aim to level the playing field for disadvantaged children. 

“There is no doubt that cost is a significant barrier to participation in early childhood education programs for some children,” Mr Morrissey said.  

“I understand that other obstacles like transport, social factors and family violence will also be considered in the design phase of the initiative, as will methods to overcome them.” 

United Voice state secretary Jannette Armstrong said she welcomed the “monumental shift” in policy.

“We are so pleased that the voices of reason have prevailed,” Ms Armstrong said. 

“Educators have won jobs they can count on and a more suitable early education approach for children.” 

Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations vice-president Lisa Gillard said the new approach was in the best interest of children. 

“These programs are a great investment in parental engagement, which is so important when it comes to children’s educational outcomes,” Ms Gillard said.

Australian Education Union state president Helen Richardson said she welcomed the change because schools were not equipped to deal with more, and younger, students.

“Teachers and support staff want the government to invest where it can make the biggest difference,” she said.