Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It's pretty much universally agreed in my electorate of North Sydney that those working in the early childhood education and care sector play a vital role in supporting families and parents right across our community.

In 2021, 93 per cent of workers in the early childhood education and care industry identified as female, adding this profession to a long list of female dominated work environments that are not properly valued by our society or by governments in general. As I stand to speak to this motion, then, today, I think the real question for this parliament is: has it done enough to fundamentally shift our nation's mindset to one which truly values those working in the care economy? After all, following a decade of coalition governments, many would argue this sector and the families that rely on it have never been so pressed as cost-of-living pressures close in on everyone and professionals in the area leave in droves because both their salary and career progression prospects are so poor.

As I've said, my community fundamentally believes that every childhood educator and carer plays an essential role in shaping our society. Not only do they teach and nurture our kids in their formative years but their very existence helps drive our economy, as they enable millions of Australian parents, most often women, to return to work and pursue the careers they wish to. Despite this contribution, however, for far too long early childhood education and care workers have been appallingly underpaid, contributing to the high turnover and one of the largest unfilled vacancy ratios in any occupation in the country.

To navigate this complex problem and identify potential policy solutions, I recently hosted the North Sydney early childhood education and care deliberative democracy forum. With 40 residents from North Sydney randomly selected from a wider group of 5,000 invited, the forum was demographically representative of my electorate. The deliberations of this group drew upon both expert input and community submissions to build a community consensus on what they wanted to see me fighting for in this place. By coming to a consensus on a federal policy position that could effectively address affordability and accessibility in the sector, the forum really did unlock my community's thinking.

To help inform their views, participants heard from a range of experts, including Early Childhood Australia, the Australia Institute, Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales, the Centre for Policy Development and the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education at Macquarie University, with the potential solutions discussed including everything from government funded universal access to early childhood education and care places for all children from birth through to strategies to deal with the discrepancy in remuneration structures for early childhood educators employed in preschools versus those employed in primary schools.

The ultimate result of those deliberations made it really clear. My community of North Sydney wants to see early childhood education and care valued more appropriately and not just relegated to 'women's work'. Specifically, they told me they wanted to see free or low-cost access to early childhood education and care integrated into the existing education system and to see it offered universally to all families for children from birth, regardless of where the family lives or their socioeconomic status. They advocated that, while as a society we've come to value education as a basic right for young people, we haven't taken the steps to expand our universal system to cover the early years. They also told me they believe I should be advocating strongly that the early childhood education and care workforce be paid an award commensurate with that of primary school teachers. Finally, they also want to see early childhood education and care facilities built alongside new public primary schools, to ensure adequate supply.

Ultimately, communities like mine, where families pay some of the highest childcare fees in the country—an average of nearly $190 per day per child—want to see the early childhood education and care sector recognised and workers properly valued. So, while the government's recent move to raise the wages of early childhood education and care workers is welcome, it is just the first step in a reform process that is well past due. After all, the 15 per cent wage increase will still not bring the average earnings of an early childhood educator and care worker into line with primary school teachers; nor will increasing wages necessarily prevent burnout or increase retention rates, as the lure of employment in the primary school sector will remain.

Finally, although the government's 4.4 per cent fee-cap conditions are admirable in trying to ensure wage increases don't necessarily translate to increased fees for families, it does nothing to address how expensive this sector already is in my community. Put simply, early childhood education and care is essential, and people working in that area deserve the respect that is due to them.

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