Excerpts from the speech:

This government has a vision for early childhood education in 2012.

This vision is that all children will be able to access early childhood education, regardless of circumstance.

Early childhood education in New Zealand will be high quality, and unique to the New Zealand context.

There will be a diverse range of services to meet the varying needs of families.

Parents will value the contribution that early childhood education makes to New Zealand society.

There will be noticeable differences in children's achievement when they begin school.

These differences will be visible when New Zealand's achievement is compared to other similar countries.

Early education will contribute to a strong economy and our families, young and old will be prospering.

That is our vision for early childhood education.

Our collective challenge is to think about strategic and innovative ways to get there.