Former prime minister Julia Gillard is opening the public hearings for South Australia's Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care.

Hearings beginning this week will take evidence from a range of expert witnesses, kicking off with Associate Professor Victoria Whitington from the Child Development Council.

Ms Gilliard brings some serious credentials to the inquiry, having been appointed Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. From 2007 to 2010, Ms Gillard was the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Social Inclusion.

She oversaw major reforms to the Australian education system, including the most significant education reform in a generation – the Gonski Review. She also established the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the Digital Education Revolution, and the Building the Education Revolution program.

Ms Gillard is currently the Chair of Beyond Blue, Chair of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation which supports science to solve urgent health challenges, Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, and a patron of the Campaign for Female Education. She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Adelaide, and Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institute.

Ms Gillard also served as chair of Global Partnership for Education from 2014 to 2021 - leading a global funding body that works to ensure that every child receives a quality school education, prioritising the poorest, most vulnerable and those living in countries affected by fragility and conflict.

The Royal Commission’s line of inquiry will include:

  • How South Australian families are supported in the first 1000 days of a child’s life, with a focus on opportunities to further leverage early childhood education and care to improve outcomes for South Australian children

  • How universal quality preschool programs for three and four-year-olds can be delivered in South Australia, with a goal to achieve this in 2026

  • How all families can access out of school hours care at both preschool and primary school ages, including accessibility, affordability and quality

  • The benefits of increasing workforce participation from parents through improved access to childcare, early childhood education, and out of school hours care

Ms Gillard has already taken some evidence from an expert advisory panel.

“We are here to really answer a question which is how are we going to build a better early childhood education and care system in South Australia?” she said in brief comments last year.

“In particular, how are we going to ensure universal access to three-year-olds to early learning?”

The inquiry has taken more than 230 responses from parents, educators and other community members, and is due to present its final report to the government in August this year.