Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Curtin for her typically thoughtful discussion with regard to this bill, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, that is before the parliament. It's a really important one, Speaker. You and I are Labor people who got into parliament to try to fight inequality and make sure that the quality of life of people in our country isn't defined by their income or indeed by the family that they grew up in. I think when you looked at these matters of social justice and inequality a generation ago you probably would have looked at wage justice and these fundamental things that affect the lives of Australians as adults. But the more we understand about how the life cycle of poverty continues across generations the more obvious it is that the best time for us to focus on is those first thousand days in a child's life.

We don't need any more evidence about this point. There is study after study here in Australia and overseas that show us that, if we intervene in the life of a child, we can radically reshape their trajectory just by making sure that they get off to the right start. That's got an element of health care. It's got an element of supporting parents who might be in a really disadvantaged situation. But probably the most important thing that we can do through politics and through this chamber is making sure that we provide really quality early learning to every single Australian child. They expect and deserve nothing less from this chamber and from this amazing country of ours than for us to be able to extend that generosity to young people by supporting them through those first thousand days.

What we know about early learning in our country is that we're on a real journey here. We've had some periods of time where we've had Australian governments that have thought about this as merely child care, someone taking care of your kids while the families went to work. We as the Labor Party and a Labor government have been working over a number of decades now to really switch the mindset up here. This is not just about looking after children; this is about starting their journey of education in the most positive and powerful way while they take those first steps as really young children and babies.

One of the things that really sticks in my mind in the work that I have done in this area is looking at the different ways in which children who grew up in really advantaged families and really disadvantaged families experience language. There are some studies that have been done overseas that show that there are literally 20 million fewer words heard by children who grew up in very low income and disadvantaged households versus children who grew up in different kinds of households. As Australians, we can't tolerate these things. We've got to intervene, and it is certainly the role of government to reach in and try to give every support and assistance to those children to make sure that they're standing on a platform of support of the Australian people.

The bill before the parliament is about the workers who support these incredible young Australians to get off to the very best start. I'm sure I'm not alone here, but one of the most absolutely fantastic things that we get to do in our work as members of parliament is visit childcare centres where these young Aussies are getting taught by these incredible people, who are spending every day going to work and helping children form their first words and helping them learn through active participation. I'm so lucky to see my three children have had that opportunity. These workers are as good as gold, but for too long the Australian people and the Australian government have not been giving them the rewards that they deserve. We know that they are doing essential work to help build a great future for our country, yet they are being remunerated as though that work were not important, and that's not good enough.

We are on a journey here of making sure those workers in our economy—our aged-care workers, our childcare workers and our disability workers—are getting properly recognised for the support that they give to other Australians. I've got the government whip just behind me here, who has spent her life in education. Don't get her started on the value of educators! I really want to emphasise for the parliament and for people listening at home that Labor understands how difficult and important this work is. If you're a parent of young children, as I am, you know that it is no mean feat to go to work every day and try to educate a whole classroom of three- or four-year-olds, but this is what these people do every day, and they deserve to be properly remunerated. That is what this bill is about.

I want to mention some of the gender issues that lie at the heart of this. It's not something that the parliament is always comfortable talking about, but we've got to address this. We have one of the most gendered workforces in the entire world in our beautiful country of Australia. A lot of people wouldn't believe that, but, if you look at a type of work like construction, you'll find that somewhere around nine in 10 workers in parts of that industry are male. If you look at something like childcare workers, you'll find that almost nine in 10 of those workers are female. This is really important because what we see is that those parts of our economy where women are really dominant tend to be the most underpaid parts of the economy. Of course, we all understand why that is. Historically, women's work has not been sufficiently valued. For a long time, generations of people have talked about that work as though women were going to work out of the goodness of their hearts. That's not respectful, and it's not right, and that's why our government is trying to correct it.

I'll make a final point. Over the last couple of days, the Prime Minister made a series of outstanding announcements about the other end of the education spectrum in making sure that young people who make the fantastic choice—a choice we want them to make—to go on to further study aren't penalised in the way that they are today, and that, for those fantastic young people who want to go into trades, we want to support you. The announcement to make 100,000 fee-free TAFE places available every single year will have transformative effects on our economy and on the lives of all of those young people who take that opportunity.

I want the parliament to know that it is not about picking out one year or one part of our education system; it's about saying that, as a government, we have a special role in helping our youngest Aussies get the right start in life, supporting them all the way through that arch and through to their TAFE training and their university education. As a government, we have an amazing offering on education. It's something that I'm very proud of as a Labor Party member and a member of this House for a long time now.

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