Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

This government went to the election in May with a clear agenda to reduce the cost of living for working families and a clear agenda on gender equality. The Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022, which was passed last night in the Senate, kicks both of those goals and more. Most importantly, though, what this bill does is that it provides access to early childhood education for more children in those very critical early years from zero to five, when the social, cognitive and emotional development of children is really occurring at quite an incredible pace. This morning, the Minister for Education, the member for Canberra, the assistant minister and I were at an early childhood centre in civic. You watch these children, and you know that in those first five years they're learning to walk, they're learning to talk, they're learning to share, they're learning to express their emotions and they're learning to express what it is that they want—an incredible amount of learning in those first five years.

This bill means that, for 1.2 million families across Australia, their children will have better access to quality early childhood education and care. For families earning $80,000 or less, this bill increases the maximum CCS rate to 90 per cent. What that means for the primary caregivers in those families, who are primarily women, is that they can work extra hours if they want to and contribute more to the household income. But, importantly, it also means that they can progress their careers. They don't have to take more time out of their careers. They can progress their careers if they want to, and they can seek further study if they want to or need to.

These are really important reforms for gender equality. Coupled with some of the other bills that we've passed in just our first six months of parliament, I think it's a true demonstration of just how much this government is committed to achieving that goal and that promise that we went to the election with: achieving gender equality for women, allowing more women to do more hours at work and progress their careers or to undertake further study if they so wish, and giving them better economic security later in their lives by making early childhood education more affordable for women, for families and for Australia more generally.

The Prime Minister and the minister have already spoken at length about the benefits of this bill, so I want to use the time I have left just to add my thanks to a number of people who have really contributed to the success of this bill. First and foremost, I want to say a huge thank you to the sector, to the early childhood educators out there, who work so tirelessly. As the Prime Minister said, they are undervalued and underpaid. They work so tirelessly because they believe in what they're doing. They believe in the value of early childhood education. They believe in how good early childhood education can transform lives. I know that it made a huge difference in the lives of my children and I am eternally grateful to the early childhood educators who educated my children so that I could go back to university and lift my family and myself out of poverty.

I want to thank the Minister for Education, my good friend, Jason Clare; the Minister for Social Services, who laid the groundwork for this in opposition; and the Prime Minister for his unwavering support and for his deep, deep belief in the value of universal early childhood education. We know that when we invest in those early years, it means that we spend less money later. We know that; the evidence tells us that.

So, in closing, I congratulate and thank all my colleagues. I visited many early childhood learning centres with colleagues who are here today. It is a good day today. It is a good day for families. It is a good day for women and it is an especially good day for children right across Australia.

Question agreed to.

See this speech in context