ECE Funding Review - Submission to the Ministerial Advisory August 2026
| funding-consultation-omep.pdf |
When Early Childhood Education Becomes a Commodity: What’s at Stake for Tamariki?
ECE Funding Under Review: OMEP Aotearoa Responds
Dr. Sarah Aiono from the Aotearoa Educators’ Collective talks with OMEP Aotearoa co-presidents Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson and Dr. Lynley Tulloch about OMEP’s submission in response to the Ministerial Advisory Group’s review of early childhood education funding.
Watch here: aecnz.substack.com/p/when-early-childhood-education-becomes?utm_source=substack&publication_id=2677630&post_id=211383238&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=88wb96&triedRedirect=true
ECE Funding Under Review: OMEP Aotearoa Responds
Dr. Sarah Aiono from the Aotearoa Educators’ Collective talks with OMEP Aotearoa co-presidents Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson and Dr. Lynley Tulloch about OMEP’s submission in response to the Ministerial Advisory Group’s review of early childhood education funding.
Watch here: aecnz.substack.com/p/when-early-childhood-education-becomes?utm_source=substack&publication_id=2677630&post_id=211383238&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=88wb96&triedRedirect=true
The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Funding System Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) is consulting on possible change to how the Government spends $3 billion each year on ECE.
OMEP Aotearoa has made their submission. Thank you to all involved.
To read our submission click on this link: funding_consultation_omep.pdf
Information below is direct from the Ministry of Education website:
www.education.govt.nz/have-your-say/consultation-early-childhood-education-funding-system/details
The MAG has identified 7 areas where it believes change could make a difference, and a range of possible options in each of these areas.
What is being consulted on:
The Environment Committee is seeking submissions on the Conservation Amendment Bill.
Here is our submission on behalf of OMEP Aotearoa on 30 June 2026:
To the Environment Committee,
We write on behalf of OMEP Aotearoa New Zealand, an organisation committed to promoting and protecting the rights and wellbeing of children.
We are concerned about the potential implications of the Conservation Amendment Bill for children's rights, Indigenous rights, and the environmental futures of tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises children's rights to life, health, wellbeing, play, participation, and culture. Increasingly, international human rights bodies recognise that these rights are dependent upon access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Decisions about conservation land therefore have direct implications for children's rights both now and into the future.
From an early childhood education perspective, natural environments are important places for learning, play, exploration, belonging, and connection. Forests, rivers, wetlands, mountains, and coastal areas support children's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. They also provide opportunities for children to develop understandings of environmental stewardship and care for the natural world.
We are particularly concerned about the potential long-term impacts of weakening protections for conservation land. Future generations of children should inherit thriving ecosystems, healthy waterways, and access to public natural spaces. Conservation land should be viewed as part of our collective responsibility to future generations rather than primarily as an economic resource.
We also urge the Committee to consider the implications of the Bill for Māori and the rights affirmed through Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Relationships with whenua, wai, forests, and taonga species are central to identity, culture, whakapapa, and wellbeing. Protecting these relationships is important for the rights and wellbeing of tamariki Māori and future generations.
Research in early childhood education consistently demonstrates the importance of children's relationships with nature. As educators, families, and communities, we have a responsibility to ensure that children can continue to learn within healthy and thriving environments.
We respectfully ask the Committee to carefully consider the children's rights, Indigenous rights, environmental, and intergenerational implications of the proposed legislation and to ensure that the protection of conservation land remains a priority.
Ngā mihi,
Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson, Co-President (Tangata Whenua)
Lynley Tulloch, Co-President (Tangata Tiriti)
OMEP Aotearoa has made their submission. Thank you to all involved.
To read our submission click on this link: funding_consultation_omep.pdf
Information below is direct from the Ministry of Education website:
www.education.govt.nz/have-your-say/consultation-early-childhood-education-funding-system/details
The MAG has identified 7 areas where it believes change could make a difference, and a range of possible options in each of these areas.
What is being consulted on:
- Improve targeted funding to services to better support the needs of specific children, families, communities, or government priorities.
- Changing the approach to fees assistance to help families struggling with affordability.
- Changing how ECE subsidies that support all tamariki are used, including changing the hours covered and funding for home-based care, to help working parents and whānau.
- Simplifying funding bands that apply to teachers and affect the level of funding provided.
- Reconsidering how government funding pays for the ECE workforce.
- Strengthening information and reporting requirements.
- Modernising and simplifying the funding system.
The Environment Committee is seeking submissions on the Conservation Amendment Bill.
Here is our submission on behalf of OMEP Aotearoa on 30 June 2026:
To the Environment Committee,
We write on behalf of OMEP Aotearoa New Zealand, an organisation committed to promoting and protecting the rights and wellbeing of children.
We are concerned about the potential implications of the Conservation Amendment Bill for children's rights, Indigenous rights, and the environmental futures of tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises children's rights to life, health, wellbeing, play, participation, and culture. Increasingly, international human rights bodies recognise that these rights are dependent upon access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Decisions about conservation land therefore have direct implications for children's rights both now and into the future.
From an early childhood education perspective, natural environments are important places for learning, play, exploration, belonging, and connection. Forests, rivers, wetlands, mountains, and coastal areas support children's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. They also provide opportunities for children to develop understandings of environmental stewardship and care for the natural world.
We are particularly concerned about the potential long-term impacts of weakening protections for conservation land. Future generations of children should inherit thriving ecosystems, healthy waterways, and access to public natural spaces. Conservation land should be viewed as part of our collective responsibility to future generations rather than primarily as an economic resource.
We also urge the Committee to consider the implications of the Bill for Māori and the rights affirmed through Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Relationships with whenua, wai, forests, and taonga species are central to identity, culture, whakapapa, and wellbeing. Protecting these relationships is important for the rights and wellbeing of tamariki Māori and future generations.
Research in early childhood education consistently demonstrates the importance of children's relationships with nature. As educators, families, and communities, we have a responsibility to ensure that children can continue to learn within healthy and thriving environments.
We respectfully ask the Committee to carefully consider the children's rights, Indigenous rights, environmental, and intergenerational implications of the proposed legislation and to ensure that the protection of conservation land remains a priority.
Ngā mihi,
Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson, Co-President (Tangata Whenua)
Lynley Tulloch, Co-President (Tangata Tiriti)