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Thank you for making the time to join us today for this webinar about the Mobile Preschool Funding Program.

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I know you all have extremely busy schedules, so I appreciate the time that you are taking to join us and to hear more about the program for 2026.

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My name is Natalie McCall and I'm the Director of Sector Programs at the Department of Education and joining me today is Liam Crook, Relieving Manager for the Community and Mobile Preschool Funding team.

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So the purpose of today's session is to provide an overview of the 2026 program and to respond to your questions.

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It's important to note that this isn't the only opportunity for engagement on the 2026 program.

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As always, the team is available to respond to your questions today, but also to provide further clarifications and information that you might need throughout the year.

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I want to begin by acknowledging that I'm bringing this session to you from the lands of the Gadigal people, and I pay my respects to the custodians of this land.

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At the Department of Education, we acknowledge the ongoing custodians of the various lands on which all of you are working today, and we acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people watching and participating in this session.

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We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing teachers knowledge, song lines and stories, and we strive to ensure that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learner in NSW achieves their potential through education.

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A few housekeeping matters before we get into the detail.

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This session is scheduled to run for 30 minutes.

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Microphones are muted and cameras are disabled because there's so many of us.

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But most importantly, the Q&A function is open.

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You can find the Q&A function at the top of your screen.

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Please type your questions and our team of moderators will do their best to reply during the session.

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We'll also use your questions to inform a Frequently Asked Questions document, which we'll publish online.

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We are presenting slides at the moment and if you cannot see the slides, please comment in the chat function and we'll reissue the help instructions in the chat section.

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We won't be discussing individual service details in this forum, but please do reach out to us via email if you have a question specific to your service and the funding you will receive.

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At the end of the session, we'll have a short, optional survey which will be available for your feedback.

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OK, I want to take some time to acknowledge the important role that all of you play in providing quality, affordable preschool education for your local communities.

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The Mobile Preschool Funding program for 2026 was announced in October and I hope you've had time to review the program guidelines and your funding letters, which were sent through the Digital Hub.

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The program objectives are listed on the screen and the 2026 program reflects these four key areas.

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The program aims to improve the affordability of preschool education, to support quality uplift in preschool education, to drive improved outcomes for children, and to incentivise increased enrolment and attendance in quality preschool programs in the two years before school.

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The NSW Government is driving improvements to safety, quality and equity in early childhood education and care so that every child in NSW can thrive.

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The program arrangements for the 2026 Mobile Preschool Funding Program are continuing and we're refining the program as well.

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The government has now confirmed its decisions about funding rates, eligibility and spending rules for 2026 and they are set out in the guidelines.

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The 2026 Mobile Preschool Funding Program will continue to support the accessibility and affordability of quality preschool education.

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Let's have a look at what's changing in 2026.

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So there have been some changes to ensure that funding is directed towards safe, quality services and to help make early childhood education and care more affordable for the families who need it most.

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We've also taken the opportunity to make some simplifications and clarifications in the guidelines.

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From January, services that receive Mobile Preschool Funding Program funding and do not meet the National Quality Standards may be directed to participate in quality improvement programs to lift their rating.

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Department may withhold funding from services that consistently do not achieve a meeting rating.

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Also, the spending rules make clear that Program Payments can be used for activities that maintain or improve a services quality rating, including professional development and training.

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We've also provided greater clarity on fee relief responsibilities and unspent funds.

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Liam will speak to this in a little more detail in a moment.

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Another important change is that we'll remind you that SEIFA transition arrangements currently in place in the 2025 program year and at the end of this year.

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The transition arrangements were in place to assist providers in adjusting to changed funding rates following the ABS changes to SEIFA classifications.

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All services will have funding calculated using the 2021 SEIFA deciles for the next year's program instead of the 2011 SEIFA bands which were in place in 2025.

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Further information on this transition is available in the program guidelines in Appendix 1.5 and was communicated in your funding letters.

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The thing that's not changing is Fee Relief funding rates for children enrolled in mobile preschool services.

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And I'll hand now to Liam to talk a little bit more about the funding rates.

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Thank you, Nat, and I also welcome everyone who's joined us live today or who's viewing this recording.

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I agree your time is important, and we appreciate you making time in your Friday morning or whenever you're watching this to engage in this content with us.

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I'm joining you from our Wollongong office on the lands of the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal Nation.

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And I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and extend that to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with us today, and to all of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues.

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who are all working to ensure that every child in NSW can thrive in 2026.

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Program Payment and Fair Relief Payment funding rates have been indexed to ensure that funding under the Mobile Preschool Funding Program continues to support mobile preschool services operating in rural, regional and remote areas of NSW.

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We understand that mobile preschools often experience fluctuating enrolment figures from year to year.

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As such, the funding floor, which is a key component of the base funding of the Program Payment - it's a very wordy sentence -

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It has increased to $22,629 per mobile preschool.

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As a reminder, this amount may increase or decrease depending on a mobile preschool's operational hours above or below 960 hours per year.

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The funding floor continues to support the operational costs for mobile preschool such as vehicle costs, venue costs and staffing and will continue to provide stability for mobile preschool providers.

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The important thing to note there is that there isn't any structural changes to the way that Program Payment is operating.

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The cost loadings have also been increased.

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That means that the regional loading has increased to $13,826 based on ARIA+ Remoteness Classifications, the venue loading has increased to $4,743 and the vehicle loading has increased to $40 per kilometre.

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Additionally, the Program Payments enrolment funding has been adjusted to the maximum rate of $8,480 per eligible enrolment.

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This figure is based on your services SEIFA decile and will also be adjusted based on the ratio of children eligible for equity funding at your service.

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Finally, the Fee Relief Payment has been increased to $4,456 per eligible child enrolled for 600 hours per year, with pro rata rates for children that aren't enrolled for 600 hours across the venues at your service.

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Whilst changes to the Fee Relief Payment have been implemented across the Start Strong programs, the two-tier rates that you may have heard or seen across the Start Strong programs will not apply to the Mobile Preschool Funding Program as all enrolled children would be eligible for the maximum rate.

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Given all Mobile Preschool Funding Program services are based in regional, rural or remote areas. You would have received your funding letters a couple of weeks ago.

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If you have any questions about your funding calculations, please feel free to reach out to us by contacting us at the funding inbox, which is ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au, or by calling the information and inquiries line on 1800 619 113.

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And I know my team has put those contact details in the chat as well.

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Now let me speak briefly to changes regarding reserved fee relief and unspent funds.

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From the 2026 calendar year program reserved fee relief will no longer be a component of the Mobile Preschool Funding Program.

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Instead, fee relief funds that are not currently being applied to a child's enrolment fees are considered unspent fee relief funds.

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Unspent funds become surplus at the end of the year.

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Unspent funds is also the term for Program Payment funds not yet utilised or remaining at the end of the year.

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But unspent fee relief can't be used like Program Payments.

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Unspent fee relief can be used to reduce the cost of any additional charges to families accessing fee relief.

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These additional charges might look like things like any levies or membership fees, enrollment fees that you might have.

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It may be incursions or excursions.

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These are things that you can use unspent fee relief on once you've applied it to reducing fees to $0 or as low as possible.

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Any unspent funds that providers have at the end of the year are deemed surplus funds.

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Surplus funds will need to be documented through financial accountability statements and must follow the surplus management process set out in the guidelines.

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The surplus management process provides that surplus funds can be retained up to 10% of the total allocation or $30,000, whichever is higher.

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There is also provision for providers to apply to retain surplus funds above this threshold where there is an operational need.

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A range of resources are available on the Mobile Preschool Funding Program website to support you with understanding and applying the 2026 program.

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This includes a funding planning tool and links to information about the quality areas.

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The Start Strong Families page has been updated with some 2026 program information, with some additional information and documentation to be added from next week.

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Frequently Asked Questions about the program for 2026 will also be available and published on the website shortly.

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Now in terms of next steps, the 2026 program Terms and Conditions or funding agreement or T&Cs, whichever you may know it as, will be released in the Digital Hub system for the Mobile Preschool Funding Program in the coming days.

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A reminder that funding letters were issued to your provider main email address on the 6th of November and they are available to download from the Digital Hub at any time.

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If you have not yet accessed the Digital Hub, please visit the Digital Hub information page that's on our website for more information on how to get access.

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The team will add the link to that web page in the chat.

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Quarter One Program Payments will be processed and paid in early December for providers who accept the 2026 funding agreement prior to the deadline, which should be the 7th of December.

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This is similar to how quarter one Program Payments were processed in previous years.

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Providers who wish to delay their Quarter One Program Payment until the 2026 calendar year.

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So from January, you can choose to accept the funding agreement after the advertised deadline and that will ensure that your payment comes through to you in January if you wish to do so.

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If you would like to do that, please contact us at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au and my team will note this down so that we can make sure we don't process your payment in December.

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You would likely also receive a call from us towards the end of the T&Cs acceptance.

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And if so, you can also let us know on that call that you would like to pause your acceptance until after the deadline so that your money can come come through in January.

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Now, a webinar on how to accept the T&Cs in the Digital Hub was held this past Wednesday on the 19th of November.

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The recording of this session will be emailed to all services who registered to attend by the department as soon as possible.

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Resources are available on the Digital Hub itself and on our website, including guides and videos on how to accept the Terms and Conditions.

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These resources will ensure that service, any services who didn't register for the webinar can have guidance to be able to accept the Terms and Conditions.

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And of course, you can reach out to the department on the contact details that will be provided with the email that will notify you about the agreement being available, and there is support to help you with that as well.

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Thanks Liam.

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Thanks for that information.

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Hopefully that was useful to everyone listening in.

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If you have questions about anything Liam covered or anything else we've covered today, please put them in the chat or reach out to the team.

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We did have one question pre registered with us and so let me address it now.

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The question was "Are you going to provide a generic letter and flyer for parents as you have in the past?"

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The answer is yes, we will be providing a family flyer.

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That resource will be on the website soon.

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There are a range of supporting resources for the Mobile Preschool Funding Program will be uploaded on the website from as early as next week.

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The Start Strong Families page also has some information for families on topics such as fee relief.

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But of course, we know that children enrolled in mobile preschool services will be eligible for the maximum rate of fee relief.

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Liam, was there any questions in the chat that the team have received that you'd like to speak to now?

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Yes, so we've just had one come through.

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When will funding agreements be available on the Digital Hub as they aren't currently showing to sign?

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Great question.

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So the funding agreements will be available in the coming days.

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We're just going through the final process of getting those ready to be released.

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As soon as they are released, all providers will receive an email with detailed instructions on how to accept.

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It'll provide you with the deadlines for acceptance.

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It'll provide you with a step by step on how to go in and accept the document and how to get support if you need it.

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What is worth calling out and recognising is that while the Digital Hub funding agreement will cover some programs, it will cover the Start Strong for Community Preschools program, the Mobile Preschool Funding Program, the Disability and Inclusion Program and the Additional Targeted Equity Loading.

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Some Mobile Preschool Funding Program providers may have other funding programs that are not yet in the Digital Hub.

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The main example of this is the Start Strong for Long Day Care program, but there may be other funding programs as well and in that case you may also be required to accept the Terms and Conditions document in ECCMS as well.

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If that is the case for you, you will also receive a separate email which has instructions on how to accept in ECCMS, so you will receive 2 emails instead of 1.

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And just a final note on that, while the funding agreement in Digital Hub covers the Disability and Inclusion Program, it is only covering the acceptance of the agreement only.

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If you wish to apply for funding under that program, including submitting applications for Higher Learning Support Needs or Inclusive Environments funding, you will need to continue to do that in ECCMS as you traditionally have.

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That's the only question that I can see at the moment.

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We can pause in case there are any other questions that do come through in the chat.

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But otherwise, I would say that you are most welcome to reach out to us at any time through the contact details that we've provided in the chat so far.

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We'll just hold for a little bit in case anything comes through.

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But otherwise, Nat, we can come back to you to close off.

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Sure.

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We'll go to the next slide.

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So unless there are further questions in the chat, that's brings us to the end of our session.

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We welcome your feedback on this session, how helpful it was or with you those further informational resources that you would like to see from the department.

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There is a QR code there and a URL if you prefer to use that to answer our quick survey.

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We do appreciate your feedback.

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So that brings us to the conclusion, Liam, unless there were any further questions in the chat to address.

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No.

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OK, that's OK.

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We thank you for your attendance and we hope that some of the information shared today has been useful to you.

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If your questions weren't answered or you have anything specific you'd like to ask in relation to the funding for your service, please contact us.

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The contact details are on the screen now.

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Our phone number and email are there and we're always open to hearing feedback on this, this session and also other resources as well as answering your questions.

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Hope was that this was useful for you.

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Thank you very much for joining us.

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Hope you have a great day.