Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do want to thank the member for Calare for his contribution, as well as those emails that he read out. I wanted to offer him some assistance with responding to those emails. May I suggest that you put in the subject line 'I'm sorry'. 'I'm sorry I was part of a government that for nine years neglected this sector. I'm sorry that I failed to value our early childhood educators. I'm sorry I was part of a government that, as a key policy plank of ours, held wages down.' What's the best way of attracting people to an occupation? Increasing their wages. Not those in the opposition—they don't think that increasing wages is the best way to attract people to this profession.

So let's look at their record on this. They had an opportunity to support a pay rise for early childhood educators at the Fair Work Commission. They opposed it. They had nine years to try and improve access to TAFE, to skill up and train more educators. Instead, they gutted TAFE and left us to pick up the pieces. Right now they have the opportunity to help elevate wages in the sector through multi-employer bargaining, but guess what? They opposed that too. Yet those on the other side have suddenly woken up and discovered that there is a workforce shortage in our childcare sector! This did not spring up overnight. This did not spring up over the last few months since the election in May. This has been going on for years, and they did nothing about it.

I remember the day my son came home from child care and was rattling off the names of the planets that he had learnt. He was so excited to be learning about space, and I was delighted to see his love of learning. Early childhood education is vital for our kids. It introduces them to the wonders of the world and sets them up for life.

The Albanese Labor government is making early childhood education more affordable and accessible for 96 per cent of families with children in child care. It is the single biggest commitment we made in the budget. The child care subsidy will be lifted for all families earning less than $530,000. For example, a family on a combined income of $120,000 with one child in care will save $1,780 a year. After eight years of escalating costs—jumping up by 41 per cent over that period—finally families will get some financial relief. Our cheaper childcare measures are a $4.5 billion package, but I don't see it as a cost; it's an investment. It's an investment in the future of our kids and in the future of this country, because we know that, for every dollar spent on child care, we see $2 in benefits.

The research tells us that children who receive high-quality early education are more likely to enter primary school with the social, cognitive and emotional skills needed to succeed at school. I know this to be true because I saw it in my own son. Max started school this year, and he was ready to go. He had learnt his alphabet; he knew how to write his name and do basic maths. And that was because his early childhood educators had worked so hard to ensure he was ready for school. Last week, I had the opportunity to go back to my son's former childcare centre, Lighthouse in North Strathfield, to thank all the amazing staff there, from the centre director, to the early childhood educators, to Mr Anthony, the chef. They all had a part to play in my son growing, learning and thriving.

Of course, talking about access to early childhood education is just one side of the equation. The other side of the equation is our early childhood educators. We know that child care isn't about babysitting our kids; it's about educating them. I'm grateful to be part of an Albanese Labor government, who finally values and recognises the contribution that our early childhood educators make to our kids and our society. Our cheaper childcare bill is transformative. It's transformative for kids because it will give them access to quality early education. It's transformative for families, as parents will be able to return to work. And the increase in productivity will be transformative for our economy. I'm proud to be part of a government that is introducing this vital reform.

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