Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Early Childhood Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to fix issues about affordable, quality early childhood education in Australia?

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid for her question. This morning the member for Reid and I attended a breakfast with the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia. I thank Elizabeth Death, the CEO, and all the members who were present there, who engaged very constructively with us on those really important issues of access to and affordability of quality early childhood education. As the member for Reid knows, access to affordable quality early childhood education and care is not just a vital part of a child's development but also very important for our economy. That's why this Labor government has moved very quickly to make early childhood education and care more affordable for 1.26 million families across Australia.

The bill that passed this place this morning is important for children and also for parents, particularly primary caregivers—who are predominantly women—who are looking for more opportunities for work. Indeed, today is a significant day for women across Australia. We've had the release of Women's Budget Statement, the passage of the paid domestic and family violence leave bill, and the introduction of legislation to change the Fair Work Act to allow for multi-employer bargaining and to strengthen the ability of the Fair Work Commission to order pay rises for underpaid, female-dominated industries. These measures, undertaken by a Labor government, are going to have significant ramifications for the early childhood education and care workforce, who are over 90 per cent women.

This government has also made a wage growth a priority. From our first day, we successfully argued for a pay rise for the lowest-paid workers in Australia—something that those opposite opposed. Do we all remember that? And all of these reforms—every single one of them—present positive changes for the early childhood education and care sector, carrying on a Labor legacy of understanding the needs of this sector and acknowledging the importance of early childhood education. In acknowledging that importance, National Cabinet have also tasked early childhood education and care ministers with identifying and progressing priorities right across the sector, with a particular focus on workforce strategies. And while we can't fix in a number of months what those opposite destroyed over a decade, make no mistake—an Albanese Labor government is working hard to clean up the mess that they left.