NIFTeY is the National Investment for the Early Years, which emerged out of the National Initiative for the Early Years that arose as an outcome of a meeting of academics, practitioners and government officials held in Canberra on March 5 1999. Around 70 people from many sectors concerned about the wellbeing of children within the context of their families and communities attended this workshop, which endorsed a proposal that a major Initiative focusing on the First Three Years of childhood should be launched to coincide with the first three years of the new millennium. The workshop particularly noted the dearth of longitudinal Australian data to monitor the impact of change and new policy initiatives on health and well-being outcomes for children and their caregivers.