Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to reaffirm the Albanese Labor government's deep commitment to early childhood education and care. We understand how transformative early education can be, not just for our children but for families across the country. It forms the foundation for future success and strengthens the social and economic fabric of our society. Our goal is simple: to build a universal early childhood education and care system that is accessible to all families, regardless of your circumstances or background. Every child deserves the best start in life, and every family should have access to affordable, high-quality early education.

We know that children who experience disadvantage and vulnerability are those who stand to benefit the most from early childhood education, and they are often the least likely to attend. This inequity is something we must work hard to change. Early learning helps close developmental gaps that can appear even before a child starts school. For children from disadvantaged backgrounds, early childhood education and care offers a crucial opportunity to build skills, confidence and a love of learning that will stay with them for life.

The cheaper childcare reforms are making a real difference for over a million families, easing the financial burden while ensuring children receive the education they need during these critical early years. These reforms are not just about improving access to care; they are about investing in our children's futures. But it's not only the children who benefit. Early childhood education and care plays a pivotal role in supporting parents, especially mothers, by enabling them to maintain a connection to the labour force when their children are young. When affordable and quality care is available, it empowers women to return to work, continue their careers and contribute to the economy. The benefits are twofold: families gain financial stability, and our economy benefits from increased workforce participation and productivity.

We also recognise the vital work being done by early learning educators and teachers. Every day, parents trust early educators with the most important people in their world, and, every day, Australians ask early educators to do one of the most important jobs imaginable—shaping the future of our children. That is why we are making sure these educators are fairly paid. The Albanese Labor government will fund a 15 per cent wage increase for early childhood education and care workers. This significant wage increase is a critical next step in our ongoing reforms to the sector, building on the success of our cheaper childcare changes.

Importantly, this wage increase will be tied to a commitment from childcare centres to limit fee increases. We want to ensure that workers are fairly paid without the costs being passed on to families. This commitment will help retain our existing early childhood educators, who are predominantly women, and attract new employees into this vital sector. This is better for parents, better for educators and good for Australian businesses. By improving access to quality early childhood education and care, we can also boost productivity and workforce participation, both in the short and long term. This benefit doesn't just extend to early childhood centres. The wage increase will also apply to workers in outside-school-hours care services, creating significant advantages for the parents of school-age children. This increase will be phased in over two years, beginning with a 10 per cent rise from December 2024, followed by further five per cent increase from December 2025. This means that a typical early childhood educator paid at the award rate will receive a pay rise of at least $103 per week, growing to at least $155 per week by December 2025.

Early childhood education and care workers are some of the most important workers in the country, and they deserve to be paid fairly. Our $3.6 billion investment recognises the vital role that early childhood education and care workers play in preparing our children for school and for life. This is a win for workers, a win for families and will help ease cost-of-living pressure. Since coming to government, we have seen the number of early childhood education and care workers grow by more than 30,000, but we need more. In my community of Pearce, there are eight babies born a day to local families. The Albanese Labor government is committed to building a skilled, sustainable workforce that will help us achieve a truly universal early education system for all Australians. The Albanese Labor government's cheaper childcare initiative ensures that early education and care will remain available and affordable for families right across the country whilst laying the foundation for our nation's future economic successes. I thank the member for Goldstein for bringing this motion to the parliament.

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