Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the reasons this bill is necessary is that, during the previous nine years of the coalition government, child care was an utter failure. Don't take my word for it; take the Productivity Commission report or the Australian Institute of Family Studies report. It found that the Morrison government's vaunted and hailed childcare reforms of 2018 were a complete failure. We ended up with childcare blackspots around the country and a situation where workers in the childcare sector were being paid much less than workers in other sectors and they were bleeding numbers. In addition to that, the reports found that children in some of these centres were having as little as 65c a day spent on their food. It was just appalling. We had a situation where the sector was in crisis, and the reforms that the Morrison government put in in 2018 were a complete failure. That's what the Australian Institute of Family Studies found, and it's what the Productivity Commission found.

The member for Moncrieff was talking about inflation. Inflation is down to 2.7 per cent. It was as high as eight per cent when those opposite were in government. They've got an amendment here to this particular bill, and it talks about cost-of-living relief. You can't find a measure that this government wants to bring in that they won't oppose. For example, when it comes to housing, they'll oppose our housing bills. When it came to energy relief, they opposed that. Now, grudgingly, they claim they'll support this particular bill before the chamber today. But, during nine years of the coalition government and three prime ministers and multiple spokespeople and ministers in the area of early child care, did they ever do anything like this? No, not at all. If you listened to the shadow minister's speech, you'd think they're opposing this bill. They cannot but whinge and carp and moan and complain about this bill. Yet, in the end, they'll vote for it. They'll vote for it in the end.

This particular piece of legislation is absolutely crucial. It was part of what we took to the last election. The difference between us and them is that we actually value the work of those people working in the early childhood education and care sector, because we see it as education. Those opposite claim they value the work they do, but they won't pay them for their value. They didn't do it for nine years. Even today they carp and moan and complain about the fact that we're proposing this legislation and putting the bill before the chamber with the funding beside it. We are doing that because we trust the early childhood education and care sector and we know parents trust those educators to educate their children. We know the sector is important for productivity and for female and male participation in the workforce.

We think our early educators have one of the most important jobs imaginable, which is to educate our young people. We think it's absolutely critical. They deserve much more than our thanks. Those opposite can barely give them thanks. They deserve our respect, and they deserve to be paid properly and justly. That's what this legislation, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, is about. The bill is about making sure those educators are fairly paid, and it delivers on our announcement on 8 August to deliver a wage increase to early childhood and care educators. It's about addressing workforce shortages. That's why they had workforce shortages—because people weren't being paid properly. We're increasing their wages to get people into the sector and to incentivise them.

The previous speaker talked about businesses in the market. I ran a business for 20 years before I came to this place. I know a bit about supply and demand and about how to get people to work for you. You pay them appropriately, fairly and justly, and they'll work for you. They'll take the job. That's what we're trying to do here today. Those opposite had nine years to do what we're doing today. Even now, they can only grudgingly support the legislation. We're funding a 15 per cent wage increase for early childhood education and care workers to get wages moving for them in the sector. Those opposite claim they want wages to be higher, so why did they not support any minimum wage increase for the 2.6 million Australians on the lowest pay in the country? Why could they not bring themselves, at any stage during nine years, to support a wage rise for the lowest-paid workers? Why not? Because they fundamentally don't value their work. If they valued their work, they would've supported wage rises.

There are some sectors that they support: the captains of industry and big business and entrepreneurs. They think they're marvellous, despite the subsidies and corporate assistance that they get from the taxpayers of the country. But they fundamentally don't value those who work in aged care, child care and the retail sector. They don't. Look at what they do—not at the platitudes and mousy words they give in this chamber today. Look at what they did during nine years. It takes a Labor government to do things. I say to those people who claim you don't need Labor governments: we need Labor governments from time to time in this country for Medicare, for the age pension, for superannuation, for aged-care reform, for childcare reform and for better wages for the lowest-paid workers in the country.

It goes to show that those opposite don't value the incomes of the low paid, because their stage 3 tax cuts didn't have people under $45,000 getting tax cuts; it took us to do that. Childcare workers in this sector got a tax cut under Labor. Those opposite wanted an election over it. We didn't want an election over it; we just wanted to make sure we legislated to get them the tax cuts that they need and deserve and to look after the lowest-paid workers in the country. That's also the case for the bill before the chamber. Those were the tax bills that those opposite wanted an election over.

Labor need to be in power to help the poor, the weak and the oppressed, in the biblical sense. But we want to make sure that people who are middle-income families, people on low incomes and people in the regions get the support they need. I can't understand the Nationals—the LNP in Queensland and the Nationals in regional areas—not standing up for people in the regions in those areas, because it's in the regions where the deserts and the black spots are when it comes to child care. What did the Nationals do over there? They stood on the ministerial leather over here but did nothing to help in the black spots for nine years. They talk about black spot funding. Well, they can't fund infrastructure in the regions at all. Then they whinge and moan and carp about it when we don't do what they want us to do. They'll privatise everything with the Tories and the Liberals if they get a chance—like the NBN—but they won't stand up for childcare workers in the regions. The National Party, the ones in regional Queensland, didn't in nine years. They are the ones that will say that they're great lions in their communities, but in here they're lambs. That's what will happen.

This legislation is absolutely critical to making sure we get people into the sector. I'm really proud and pleased to support this Labor government initiative. We're providing access to quality education because it's absolutely crucial. Wage increases are deserved and needed. It's an important step in the government's reforms in the whole sector. It builds on the cheaper child care changes we've already made. It will be phased in over two years, with a 10 per cent increase from December 2024 and a further five per cent increase in December 2025. It means someone who's an educator in the sector and paid at the award rate—and many of them are—will receive a pay rise of at least $103 per week, increasing to at least $155 a week from December 2025. That's around $7,800 a year. The Labor government is doing this. Those opposite didn't do it once—not once—during the nine years they were on this side of the chamber.

A typical early childhood education teacher will receive an additional $166 a week from December this year, increasing to $249 from December next year. Workers in this sector are some of the most important workers in the country and they deserve to be paid. These people deserve to be paid. This $3.6 billion investment from the government—grudgingly accepted by those opposite, if you listen to their shadow minister grudgingly talking about it—recognises the vitality of our early childhood educators. They are the ones who are preparing kids for school. Those opposite talk about productivity all the time. We talk about it quite regularly as well. If you want to make sure kids succeed at primary school, at secondary school and in tertiary education, whether it's TAFE or university, get the kids ready. Educate them. Those opposite think it's child care. It's more than child care; it's early childhood education.

To be eligible to receive this funding for wage increases, the services won't be able to increase their fees by more than 4.4 per cent over the next 12 months. The grant guidelines set the limit at 4.4 per cent in the year from 8 August 2024, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics will develop a new cost index to guide limits on increases in future years. This is an important affordability condition that will keep downward pressure on fees for families. That is informed by the work the ACCC has been doing—a combination of the wage price index and the consumer price index. Funding must be passed on in full to employees through increased wages. That condition will be set out in a legally enforceable agreement between the Department of Education and providers. We will also set a cap for the following 12 months based on the work that the ABS will do. Capping fee increases provides certainty to families and will keep a lid on fee growth. It's a win for workers and a win for families, and it will help ease cost-of-living pressures—a double dividend.

Quality, affordable early education prepares kids for a great start in life. It lays the foundation for our nation's future economic success. We know that 90 per cent of brain development occurs in the first five years of life, so it's critical that we get this early stage of life kickstarted and get these kids ready for success. US research indicates that if a child goes to preschool they're 50 per cent more likely to go to college or university and go on to a good job.

Here in Australia the Grattan Institute has highlighted how increasing childcare subsidies will increase GDP and productivity from a boost to workforce participation and result in higher lifetime earnings for the typical Australian mother. Accessible and affordable early education and learning is critical for supporting all parents, but particularly women, to have a choice when it comes to undertaking study, re-entering the workforce or increasing their hours of work. Indeed, our cheaper childcare reforms are really grounded in this work by the Grattan Institute, and it's no surprise that the think tank has endorsed Labor's policy. But to make it work we need a boost to the early childhood education workforce. In fact, the Productivity Commission report on the future of Australia's early childhood education and care system, released last month, says one of the first things we need to do to build a bigger and better early education system is to build a bigger workforce. Since we came into government, the number of workers in the sector has grown by more than 30,000, but we need more. We're seeing providers delay expansion plans, close rooms and limit enrolments because they can't find staff. The impact on the availability of early childhood education and care is critical.

Fair wages for some of the most important workers in the country are critical to reversing the attrition and the growing workforce shortage issues. This commitment by this government will help retain our existing early childhood educators—predominantly women, I might add—and attract new employees. We hope it will encourage more people to stay, more people to come back and more people to think about becoming early educators. Having more educators means more children and more parents can benefit from the life-changing work they do.

The wage justice bill encourages good-faith bargaining and the making of enterprise agreements in the early childhood education and care sector. I thank all those people who got behind this bill and the campaign that has been run. In the last few months, I've visited childcare services in some of the new areas in my electorate—Springfield, Ripley and Redbank Plains—and some of the more established suburbs, like Bundamba and Karalee. The feedback I've got is that this is a good announcement and good policy. The families and the educators welcome it.

We know that families are constantly living with the pressures of life—not just the pressures of family life but the cost-of-living pressures. So this legislation is absolutely crucial. It's urgent. The consultation and stakeholder feedback shows that it's important. I thank the United Workers Union, the Australian Education Union, the Independent Education Union, Goodstart, the Australian Childcare Alliance and so many others for the work they've done. I thank the Minderoo Foundation, Thrive by Five and all who've come out and endorsed this reform. I commend the legislation to the chamber.

See this speech in context