Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I do take great pleasure in joining the debate on the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024. In doing so, I would note this is one of those occasions where there is a high degree of agreement across the chamber in relation to the importance of the issues we're addressing in this bill. I also want to recognise that I think every member in this place would have a shared passion for ensuring that all young Australians have an opportunity to achieve their full potential and that investing in our families, supporting families and allowing them to support their children in fulfilling their dreams and aspirations are, in fact, a core business for the federal parliament of Australia.

I'll make a couple of general observations. In my role as shadow minister for education and also as a local MP now for 16 years, I've had a great deal of consultation with people around Australia and across Gippsland in relation to the issues surrounding early childhood education and care. It struck me over that period of time that it's quite ironic that we like to almost deceive ourselves as Australians in that we say the people we care about the most are our young people, that we really care about our old people, ageing and elderly, and that we really care about people with disabilities, but the people who are employed to care for those older Australians, younger Australians and people with disabilities are often the most poorly paid people in our nation.

It is a deception on ourselves, and that's why I do welcome many aspects of the bill before the House because it does seek to address some of the inequities in what is a predominantly female dominated industry which has been undervalued and underappreciated in the past. I do congratulate the government in that regard. Some of the worst-paid Australians are those who are involved in the care economy, and we do need, though, a very strong economy to ensure that taxpayers are in a position to provide the additional support that's required to fulfil our honourable and very desirable aims in this regard. So, as a matter of basic principle, I do understand and welcome the efforts to attract and retain a workforce in the childcare and early education sector.

Those early days in a child's life are critical to their future outcomes, whether it be through a formalised care environment through long day care, family day care or other models. Particularly for vulnerable children, the opportunity to have them in an environment where they can be assessed for any learning or developmental delays and then getting access to appropriate allied health care, whether it be speech pathology or whatever it might be, is critical to those long-term outcomes I spoke about at the outset of helping every young Australian achieve their full potential.

I am worried, though, that, as much as those opposite have moved in a manner to address some of the pay issues for our childcare and early educators, they seem to have missed the point in relation to the families who live in rural, regional and remote locations. We're still facing an enormous problem with childcare deserts in many of the electorates that the people on this side of the House represent, particularly in the National Party. Sadly, where we live, in many of our communities, there are no long day care centres available, and whether or not you pay a childcare educator more doesn't really matter if there's no centre for the children to attend to in the first place.

So just increasing the childcare wages for the workers or even increasing the Commonwealth childcare subsidies actually doesn't address the fundamental issues for those people in those communities that we represent. I would encourage the government, the minister and people on this side of the House as well to keep working in a constructive manner together as much as possible to address the issue of childcare deserts so that all young Australians, whether they live in a rural or remote location, suburban or inner urban area, have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and have the opportunity in their earliest years to have access to child care and early education. I would note that the coalition and every member of this place—obviously the government and those on the crossbench as well—would recognise that our early childhood teachers and educators work extremely hard. We won't be standing in the way of a wage rise for those people but we still have some concerns about this bill and the policy going forward.

There's no question that the government's policies in the last 2½ years have contributed to the cost-of-living crisis, which has made it harder and even more necessary for Australian families to have additional working hours and then draw on the need for child care in the first place. So we believe, as those opposite believe, that our early childhood educators do an incredible job caring for and educating our youngest Australians. The reality is that this policy is appearing now as something more of a pre-election sweetener and an effort to appease voters on the eve of an election period.

Just as we saw on the weekend a very expensive announcement by the Prime Minister trying to buy some friends amongst the university set, we now have this policy which appears to be very focused on ensuring that a unionised workforce has access to higher wages in the lead-up to an election period. What concerns us is there is not enough focus on the real challenge in our rural, regional and remote communities. This is an issue that the government has been urged to address throughout its term in office and has failed to do so.

Appearing at the committee inquiry in this legislation, Mrs Louise Martin from the Isolated Children's and Parents' Association stated that it would do nothing for the families that that organisation supports. When asked by Senator O'Sullivan: 'Do you believe this bill will make much of a difference to the families you represent without a measure similar to what we're discussing here?', Mrs Martin said, 'I would say about zero per cent, really.' Mrs Martin also noted the Albanese government wasn't doing much to increase access in the regions. Again, when asked by Senator O'Sullivan: 'Are you aware of anything the current government is doing alongside this bill that might address the lack of access in these childcare deserts specifically in the areas that you operate across rural and regional Australia?', sadly, Mrs Martin's response was, 'Not specifically. Occasionally there is money for mobile day care. Grant care funding is uncertain. Really, I don't see anything of significance that this government is doing to address this issue out here.'

I raise those points because, looking to the future, we do need to be investing in our early educators and child carers. We also need to be investing in our families and in the important role that parents play in ensuring young people have the best possible start in life. Looking to the future, if we think we are going to keep on doing the same thing and get a different outcome in our rural and regional communities, we are sadly mistaken. We need more focus when it comes to early education and child care on choice, on access, and on flexible models that can work in our regional communities. When I say 'choice', I quite deliberately make the point that this is about respecting the choice that different families will make with their children's upbringing. We do need to make it possible for more families to care for their own child in the first place if that is their choice and it's possible in their circumstance. There's no judgement intended here, or no judgement should be given by anyone in relation to that choice. I respect the choice of families who need to access full-time day care, just as I respect the choice of families who have made the decision to look after their own children as much as they possibly can. But I'm disappointed that, throughout the past probably 20 years, there has been more of a focus away from providing that choice for those families who would prefer to spend more time—that most precious of all commodities—where possible raising their own children, rather than feeling obliged or forced or pressured in some way to have to access a childcare centre. I think choice is an important issue in this debate going forward.

The question around access is one that I've touched on already and it's one that every rural and regional member would be well aware of. In the childcare deserts that many of us represent, there is simply no opportunity to access a formalised care model which is subsidised by the Australian taxpayers. If we are going to be in a position to attract and retain a workforce in regional communities, whether it be in teaching, nursing, paramedics or policing, you name it, we need to be able to offer child care. It is very difficult to attract and retain a skilled workforce in a regional community if you can't offer child care to the families seeking to relocate to those communities. In that regard, child care and early education are services that enable those families to provide other essential services to the broader economy and the broader community. It allows people to get back to work, if that is their choice. Improving access to child care right across rural and regional Australia has to be a fundamental aim. It's become more challenging in the last few years as cost-of-living pressures have really started to bite.

There is no question that a vast majority of families would not be able to pay their mortgage, cover their household bills and face all those increasing costs without having access to more than one income. Maybe not two full-time incomes, but maybe 1½ incomes or one income and some casual work, but they certainly need more than one regular household income to meet those bills in a lot of our communities. Having access to childcare services in more communities is critical for us if we're going to be able to attract and retain the workforce and allow our families to deal with the cost-of-living pressures in rural and regional areas.

The other point I want to make is in relation to looking to the future. I mention choice, I mention access, and I mention flexibility. Flexibility means the bureaucrats in Canberra need to start listening to those smaller communities where the model of corporate care, a large day care centre, simply doesn't work. There's no demand for 100 childcare places in many of our towns, but there is still a need for the local nurse, police officer or paramedic to have access to care. We need to find some more flexible models that support those smaller communities. That may well be investing more in family day care and supporting infrastructure required for that. That may be to go to the local councils and ask, 'Do you have a public building that you could actively repurpose for a smaller day care, childcare, early education environment?' And we may have to assist them with their infrastructure needs. The corporate model will not work in many of our communities. Simply saying that we're going to keep increasing the Commonwealth childcare subsidy or increasing the wages for existing childcare and early educator workers will not overcome the challenge of access and flexibility in our rural and remote communities.

I'll finish where I started, on a very bipartisan note. I genuinely believe that across this chamber there is an enormous amount of goodwill when it comes to early childhood education and care workers and ensuring that every young person in this great nation has the opportunity to achieve their full potential. I urge those opposite to continue to engage constructively with this side of the House. Many of us have backgrounds in rural, remote and regional locations and believe we can assist in coming up with local solutions to what are very much local problems and in working with the minister to ensure that every child in Australia has the opportunity to achieve their full potential. I thank the House.

See this speech in context