Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

We have a real opportunity to transform early childhood education and care in this country. I cannot overstate how important this is for children, women, families and the economy. What could be more important than giving every child the best start in life? The early years are critical. They set the foundations for a child's development and learning trajectory. By the age of five, 90 per cent of a child's brain is fully developed. The barriers some children face, socioeconomic disadvantage, unstable homes and limited access to education and care can lead to gaps in learning that become increasingly difficult to bridge as children grow older. Early childhood education and care can level opportunities from the start, with lasting economic and social benefits.

Children who attend quality care are twice as likely to reach their development targets when they get to school. Quality care also leads to reduced crime rates and improved health, which ultimately reduces the costs to society. Unlike interventions aimed at addressing inequalities later in life, early childhood education and care is a cost-effective way to close these gaps before they widen. All the evidence is there. 'Early childhood education is the golden ticket for children', as the Parenthood describes it.

It also unlocks the economic potential of women. Early childhood education and care is the centrepiece of my work to accelerate women's economic security in Goldstein and Australia-wide. Women in Australia are among the most highly educated in the world and have similar levels of labour force participation to men until they have children, when they begin to fall behind and never catch up. The differences are most pronounced in families with children under the age of five. The extent to which child care is available and affordable has consistently been found to lift rates of female participation. The Impact Economics and Policy 2023 report found that if labour force participation rates for females in families with children under five were to increase to match male participation rates, there would be an additional 301,000 women in families with children under five in the labour force. More women working boosts economic growth and tax revenue.

Our job as policymakers is to remove this barrier of returning to work for the sake of women and families, many of whom are facing real cost-of-living pressures. The cost of early childhood education and care in Australia is among the highest in OECD countries and is often the second-highest expense in a household after the mortgage. For a lot of parents, the cost of care means they simply can't afford to work. It's often referred to as a 'cost-of-working crisis'.

The HILDA Survey collects data on spending from more than 7,000 households every year. It found that about 83 per cent of families spend more on child care than on utilities or clothing for all members of the household. Seventy per cent spend more on child care than transport, and 30 per cent spend more on child care than groceries. Unaffordable child care often results in parents, usually women, deciding not to work. This begins lifelong gendered financial disadvantage. According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, more than half of Australian women reported turning down a new job or promotion because additional childcare costs made it not worthwhile. The latest ABS data shows that 140,000 women in 2023-24 cited the cost and lack of availability of child care as the reason they either don't want to work more or are unable to work more.

All the arguments for accessible and affordable early childhood education stack up. The Women's Economic Equality Taskforce put it firmly on the political agenda when it stated that Australia should move towards adopting a universal childcare system. The Productivity Commission explored the path to universal early childhood education and care and recommended that every child have access to three days of quality child care per week. It's a position shared by the Parenthood, the Centre for Policy Development, Early Childhood Australia, the Business Council of Australia, chief executive women and others, and the Prime Minister has given his commitment to working towards a universal system. In his words:

… child care isn't a luxury—it's an essential service for modern families.

The Prime Minister gets it. He understands the power of early childhood education, but I urge him to be bold. I urge all members of parliament to zoom out and see the big picture—healthier and happier children, women engaged in the workforce, cost-of-living relief, higher productivity and a stronger economy. The case for reform is strong. This is not women's policy, as some like to suggest. It's economic policy.

The three-day-guarantee bill is a small step on the path to universal care. It replaces the existing activity test with a three-day guarantee in early childhood education and care. All families will be guaranteed three days, or 36 hours, of child care subsidy each week. Removing the activity test is long overdue. I've been calling for this for several years now. It's a barrier to women's economic participation and prevents children from accessing early childhood and care, especially vulnerable children. The focus should now be on replacing the subsidy system with a timely pathway towards a universal system with a low-cost fee. As a nation, this is where we need to get to.

Universal early childhood education that is affordable would be life changing for so many children, and it would take cost-of-living pressure off families. According to leading economist Dr Angela Jackson, the impact of female participation in the workforce would provide the biggest immediate economic benefit. In her report, Time to stop throwing good money after bad: delivering universal child care through market reform, Dr Jackson identified several limitations in the modelling approach used by the Productivity Commission in its recent report, which stopped short of recommending a flat, daily fee. The commission's modelling shows that a universal system with a flat $10-a-day fee would only lift labour force participation by 7,200 people. If this modelling is correct it would mean that female participation would only increase one day for every eight additional days of child care. But Dr Jackson says that these findings are not consistent with current childcare use or stated preferences of mothers to look after their own children. As a result, the modelling underestimates the benefits of universal early childhood and care.

For now this bill is a small but important step; however, I am disappointed that this legislation in the last days of this parliament is being referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee. It should be debated and passed this week. This is too critical to get caught up in delaying tactics and political games. There is no need for a Senate inquiry. The weight of evidence is there. From leading economists to experts from the early childhood sector, support for replacing the activity test with three days of access to early childhood education is strong. In fact, the only negativity seems to be coming from the opposition. Again I ask: where is Labor's courage? Early childhood education and care is supposed to be one of the government's signature policies. I urge the Minister for Education and the Minister for Early Childhood Education to secure the passage of this bill as soon as possible. This bill will help give children the start they need by increasing attendance, especially for those experiencing disadvantage. What could be more important? It will alleviate cost-of-living stress for families, and it will advance gender equality by getting women back into the workforce. I've said it so many times in this place: affordable and accessible child care is good for children, families, women and the economy. It ticks all the boxes.

I promised the women of Goldstein I would fight for their economic security, and I will continue to do so. I will continue to push the government to be more ambitious with its pathway to universal care and to keep things moving in the right direction.

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that universal high-quality, accessible, low fee Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) would improve childhood outcomes and equity, enable more women to work, boost productivity and support families with one of their biggest household costs".

We must be bold. As businesswoman and now Governor-General Sam Mostyn said last year, universal early childhood education and care is as important as public schooling and as transformative as Medicare. As a nation, we must embrace this opportunity for real change.

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