Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The federal Labor government is working hard to ensure Australia's education system is one of the best in the world. Since our election in May 2022, our significant reforms are making outstanding improvements in the early childhood education and care sector. Our government is getting on with the job of governing and building a better future for all Australians and not just some, as was so often the case under the former Liberal and National government. Our government understands that, after a decade of lost opportunities, under those opposite, we have been left with a skills shortage crisis. Those opposite were asleep at the wheel and, when they were working, they were working against each other, as we've all seen in the ABC series Nemesis. What a shameful period in Australia's political history: no vision and no legacy.

I'm proud to be part of a federal Labor government that is now addressing this skills shortage. This year we will again provide up to 300,000 fee-free TAFE positions, including for those Australians wanting to pursue a career in the early childhood education and care sector. Early learning teachers and educators do a vital job making it possible for millions of other Australians to do theirs and also supporting children's early learning and development. Our government is making it easier for Australians to gain the skills they need for a rewarding career in early childhood education, and we are seeing this through our governments fee-free TAFE courses. Already we can see that this policy is working to increase the training of educators across Australia. From early 2023 to September 2023, our government recorded that 14,304 Australians had enrolled in early childhood education and care courses—a fantastic result that our government will continue to build upon in the weeks, months and definitely years ahead.

Further, this government recognises that, to attract more Australians to train and become educators, we need to remunerate them properly. That is why we are getting wages moving again, particularly in low-paid sectors of the economy. This federal Labor government is working with the early childhood education sector to deliver practical solutions to retain staff while continuing to develop and strengthen recruitment and training pathways. Already we have delivered a 4.6 per cent award increase in 2022 and a 5.75 per cent award increase in 2023, with more being done to improve the pay and conditions of educators in 2024.

Here's another way we are helping educators: Labor's tax cuts. I'm pleased to advise the chamber that early childhood educators will be better off following labour's tax cuts that will come into effect from 1 July this year. Are childhood educator earning $46,000 a year will now receive an $829 tax cut. And early childhood teacher earning $69,000 will receive a $1,404 tax cut. This is great news for educators and early childhood teachers, who have been overlooked and underappreciated for too long by those in the Liberal and National parties.

Recently I had the pleasure of hosting an early childhood education and care forum in my home electorate of Robertson. It was a brilliant opportunity for providers, educators, teachers and families to speak with me about what our government can continue to do to build upon the reforms we have already implemented within this sector. I would like to provide a special shout-out to local Central Coast residents Jess Coulson, Mandy Millan and Samantha Mann, who have already been advocating on behalf of thousands of families across the Central Coast for improvements in the early childhood education and care sector. These three women have been pivotal in setting up our early childhood education and care forum to discuss these challenges and issues that are affecting the sector more broadly.

This is not the end of our government's work. The federal Labor government will continue to address these issues affecting the early childhood education and care sector now and into the future across every electorate—including Casey! I say to the opposition: you had a decade to address the issues that are developing within this sector right now, and you chose to do nothing. The opposition chose to do nothing, and now we are left to deal with this significant neglect. To those opposite: stop criticising the positive reforms we are making and start working with this government to build a better future for all.

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