29/08/2025
It’s been five years since Thrive by Five began, and what a five years it’s been.
Together, we’ve built a powerful movement for universal, high-quality early learning. We’ve helped secure landmark changes to affordability, educator pay, and access to care. We’ve put children’s wellbeing on the political agenda to create real change.
But our work isn’t finished.
This week, Minderoo Foundation and The Front Project launched the second Cost of Late Intervention report – a wake-up call that shows just how urgent early action really is.
Cover of the Cost of Later Intervention report
Here’s what it found:
$22.3 billion is spent every year by governments responding to crises that could have been prevented
That figure is up 47% since 2019
The biggest increases are in child protection and family violence
These are only the direct costs to taxpayers, not the broader costs to families, industry or the economy
This is not just about money. It’s about missed moments, when support could have changed a child’s path, strengthened a family, or prevented harm.
We are spending more to help fewer children, later, and at greater cost.
The message is clear: acting early isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do.
What needs to happen next:
We’re calling on governments to treat early intervention as core economic policy, and to:
Invest in evidence-based support that works
Coordinate services so no child falls through the cracks
Prioritise equity and access for families doing it toughest
Build partnerships between government, philanthropy, business and community
Rebuild public trust through safety, transparency and workforce support
We’ve already proven what’s possible
Together, our Thrive by Five community has made early learning fairer, stronger and more visible than ever before. But this report is a reminder that we can’t stop now.
This is not about spending more – it’s about spending smarter. We can continue to pay for failure – or we can invest in success.
As we have demonstrated together, there is power in many voices calling for real, lasting change.
