Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Child care and early learning are important to Australia to such an extent that I will extend an olive branch and say that I cannot fault the sincerity of the member for Moncrieff, who moved this motion and led the debate on it during the last sitting. However, with this motion, all we really have from the opposition is a list of issues and a complete repudiation of any efforts by the Albanese government to address them, without any notable suggestions of their own. Given their time in power, you would have thought they would have saved up a few ideas on policy from back when they were in government. But, no, we didn't have that at all. It can be a bit shameless at times. First, they get a shadow minister to go on a grand tour of LNP electorates along with the local members, whilst ensuring there is photographic evidence of meeting with portfolio-relevant stakeholders. Then they proceed to blame every ill that befalls them solely upon the Prime Minister and this government. They rinse, repeat and then write a motion for PMB, hoping that no members look twice at their motion, come into this place and call out their hypocrisy or their threadbare arguments, which are full of complaints and muted when it comes to either accepting any number of solutions introduced by this government or—this is a new one—putting up some of their own.

The member for Moncrieff spoke of difficulties faced by families with children in child care. She also, to her credit, speaks of the difficulties faced by educators. I appreciate her use of the word 'educator'. As much as child care is an important way to assist parents in returning to the workforce after having kids and to increase workforce participation, particularly for women, this is only half of the picture. To say otherwise is selling short the role of educators that work within the sector, for the role of childcare is one that aids and helps to develop young minds, getting them prepared and ready to put their best foot forward when they start school. Some people still erroneously treat the profession as one of childminding. How wrong they are!

The member for Moncrieff described many educators as overworked, stressed and burnt out. At that point, I had to get the microscope out. The member for Moncrieff was so very close to approaching the point but suddenly veered off in another direction, even after stating the obvious: that our educators should be respected and valued because they care for and educate our youngest Australians—the member for Moncrieff's own words. The member for Moncrieff seems to think that this is solely a supply-side issue and that, with more educators, the problems would subside. Despite this, the member completely dismisses offering incentivised training for those looking to become educators in the sector.

Those opposite then dismiss fee-free TAFE and university placements, the reasoning being that there is no guarantee that someone will complete their course and work as an educator in the early childhood education and care sector. Frankly, I'd double down on that and say there is no guarantee that an educator might stay in the field after a few years on the job. I'm sure all of the solutions for that are lost on the opposition too. This shouldn't be the case. They appear proud of how they suppressed wage growth during their time in government. I know that those opposite, even the member for Moncrieff, are certainly against multi-employer bargaining. Though the result of the application for multi-employer bargaining by a number of workers in this sector remains unsettled, we passed the secure jobs, better pay legislation to make this sort of application possible. Can those opposite say the same?

On census night, there were 1,340 child carers residing in Spence. That population amounted to the ninth-highest occupation unit group in the whole of Spence at the time. Not all of them would've worked at a childcare centre in Spence, but there's a decent chance many would have—at any of the 123 distinct childcare providers within my electorate.

Now, I don't profess to have visited every single one. It would be no mean feat to do so. But from the centres I've visited, I know that developing the minds of kids in Spence is in some very safe and capable sets of hands, such as those of Kahlee Dix and Lisa Downs and their teams at Stepping Stone at Angle Vale and Blakeview respectively and, of course, Rebecca Stiles and the educators who work alongside her at Hillbank Community Children's Centre. I know they deserve better, and they certainly deserve better than the window-dressing put up by those opposite, who put up a lot of complaints but dismiss any solutions whilst offering none of their own. I can't blame those opposite for their consistency over their time in government, but I did hope they would finally see why it is vitally important to change tack and work constructively with us in this space. I won't hold my breath.

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