Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before coming to this place, I spent many, many years of my life working in the education sector. For a number of years I worked as a teacher aide at Dakabin State School, a fabulous local primary school that each of my four boys attended. Not long after working at Dakabin, I moved into the early childhood education sector, where I stood up for the pay and conditions of the educators who shape the minds of our children.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and from my experience I can wholeheartedly stand by that statement. I've seen just how important these education systems are for a person's future. I've seen firsthand the tremendous impact that educators and teachers have on the development of our children. I know for a fact that I can't take sole credit for raising young men as wonderful as my sons. I know it was the combined strength of many people in their lives—others who had a hand in educating my boys—that helped them grow into the wonderful men that I am so very, very proud of today.

My experiences in the early childhood sector, as a teacher aide and as a mother, have shown me how important a strong education system is, and how vital it is that a government truly cares about the education of our children. This is why I'm standing here today and this is why I'm standing on this side of the chamber: I'm standing here because I value education. I'm standing here because I know we need a Labor government, because it's only Labor that truly stands up for education and only Labor that's been showing any leadership—any leadership at all—when it comes to Australian kindergartens and preschools.

In the last few weeks Labor has announced the biggest-ever investment in early childhood education in Australia. While this government has made cuts to TAFE, Labor is scrapping those up-front fees for 10,000 early education TAFE places, which we know will boost the workforce. While the government hasn't yet funded an early education program for our four-year-olds beyond 2019, Labor has committed to permanent ongoing funding for four-year-olds. I want to be very clear at this point to any parent who might be listening and who has a three-year-old who is turning four this year. This government has put zero dollars in their budget for their child. Let me be very clear. If you have a child who is three and turning four, this government is giving you zero dollars for your child's education in kindergarten.

While we have a government here that's busy acting with less maturity than a three-year-old, Labor is extending the national preschool and kindy program to ensure three-year-olds get a head start on their education journey. Labor has committed to guarantee around 700,000 Australian children each year the ability to access subsidised kindergarten and preschool. In my electorate of Longman that will mean about 5,000 children, not a small number at all, and it will make a huge difference to their future.

I know Labor's commitment to subsidised kindergarten and preschool is a great policy, and it's not just my own personal experiences that confirmed that for me. I'm hearing it from parents. I hear it from workers. I've seen the data. So many countries have already expanded their early childhood education program to include three-year-olds: countries like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Ireland and China. This government's short-sighted cuts are threatening to push Australia backwards, but what we need to do is actually move forward. We need a government with vision for the future that isn't afraid of making tough decisions, and we know only Labor will do that.

Only Labor is reigning in unfair tax concessions that predominantly benefit the wealthy, so that we can fund priorities that make life fairer in Australia. Endorsing our policy is United Voice, the union that stands up for early childhood educators, recognising how funding early learning will help tackle economic inequality, which continues to rise under this government. It shouldn't be the bank balance of a parent that determines the quality of their child's education. Only Labor truly values early childhood education for every child in every home in every suburb in every town, every city and every state.

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