Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, it's the first time I rise with you in that seat. There are two things I will briefly indulge on. One is that there have been many times that I have been up on the second floor of this building, on the way back from the Federation Chamber or one of the committees, and, instead of going down the lift, I'd pop into your office and often be greeted with a cup of coffee and some really good advice. You are someone who many people in this place seek advice from, for good reason. The other thing that I would say, Speaker, is that your predecessor, the former member for Casey, did come into the seat to listen to the adjournment debate to get a sense of the flavour of the different members of this place. If that's something that you're also continuing, I think it's a wonderful tradition, and it's great to see you in the chair at this time of the debate this evening. And congratulations, my friend.

In Macnamara, we have had quite a campaign. We had an election, obviously. But, prior to the election, there was another campaign going on with our early childhood education centres. The city of Port Phillip is the local government area that takes in most of Macnamara, and prior to the last election I was advocating strongly that the city of Port Phillip should not shut down and sell off three crucial local early childhood centres. They, of course, are the Avenue Children's Centre, Eildon Road and the Elwood Children's Centre. These three community run centres are incredible community assets. They foster a sense of community. The petition that was circulated in our local area was signed by over 3,000 people. To give you a sense, each centre has fewer than 100 enrolments. This is something that really touched the heart of many people because they walk to these centres. The centres are local—many of them are in old houses—and they have such character, but they also build such a sense of community. And they're good. They're really good centres.

The City of Port Phillip was on a crusade to try and sell these off. I stood with many people in our local community, we protested against the council, and I was pleased that the Labor councillor in the City of Port Phillip, with the support of the Greens councillors, did put forward a motion to stop the sale. Even though that didn't quite get up, the council did resolve to look at other options. What happened then was this: conversations started with the state government. The Victorian School Building Authority have been in negotiations with the City of Port Phillip about the future of these centres as well as the other early childhood centres in the City of Port Phillip. I'm told that those negotiations are going extremely well.

I was very pleased that the former shadow minister for early childhood, the member for Kingston, when she came and met with these three centres before the last election, outlined a commitment that we would work with the City of Port Phillip to try and see a sustainable outcome for these centres, to make sure that the futures of these early childhood centres are in Macnamara and that we have a future that our kids and our families can rely on. Holding true to that commitment, one of the first calls I made when the ministry was announced was to the new minister for early childhood, the member for Cowan, to say, 'When you get a chance, please come to Macnamara and meet with the City of Port Phillip, as per our election commitment, to talk about the ways in which we can support these incredibly important local assets, these centres that build early childhood education.'

It's not just because they're great centres, they provide high-quality education and they are community assets that really are valued within Macnamara; it's also because getting good-quality, affordable child care is such an important economic measure that we need to grow the economy. When you think about inflationary pressures that we have right now, to be able to deal with supply issues is critical, and the only way we're going able to do that is if we have the very best of our workforce participating in our workplaces. Australian women are being held back predominantly by unaffordable child care, and we should address that in this country. We need to make child care more affordable, not just because it's good for our kids but also because it is absolutely critical for the health of our economy. So I want to thank the minister and the City of Port Phillip. I want to thank the mayor for his good-faith discussions. I really urge the City of Port Phillip: take a deep breath, continue on with the negotiations and think about the legacy, not of closing three valued early education centres but about the legacy of saving them. Think about what message that sends to our community and to the people that they represent and the wonderful families in Macnamara.