Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On behalf of the member for Moncrieff, I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Government misled the Australian Parliament and Australian people when they falsely claimed that since May 2022 there were 123,000 early childhood educators and teachers in the pipeline;

(b) the Department of Education advised Government Ministers time and again that it was factually incorrect to claim that figure was from May 2022;

(c) the 123,000 figure was actually from 2021 higher education and 2022 vocational education and training data, meaning the record figures were as a result of the previous Government's policies; and

(d) during the previous Government's time in office, record investments into skills and training were delivered which helped hundreds of thousands of Australians to skill-up and enter the workforce;

(2) calls on the:

(a) Government Ministers who misled the Australian Parliament to front-up and apologise; and

(b) Government to admit their claimed record in the training and education pipeline of educators was in fact thanks to the previous Government's strong training and skills policies.

Labor ministers have been deliberately using misleading data about Australia's childcare workforce, in media statements and in the parliament. When confronted, instead of accepting responsibility, they pathetically tried to blame Hansard for missing a dash.

For months this government has been saying that the 123,000 educators and childcare workers in the training pipeline are the result of Labor's policies since May 2022. Secret documents now reveal that the data actually only includes enrolments from 24 months of coalition government skills and education policies. It's not the result of Labor's fee-free TAFE policies at all. They have actually been highlighting the pipeline of successful training established under the coalition, including the Job Trainer program, which used both TAFE and industry led registered training organisations. What's worse is that the documents reveal they knew they were misleading Australians and the parliament, and they did that anyway.

The documents reveal official advice from the Department of Education was provided to the ministers as they developed a media release to highlight their childcare policies in October 2023. The advice explicitly warns the minister not to use the data in the way that they have been using it. Labor ministers have been taking the credit for coalition enrolments and trying to pass it off as the result of their policies. Several Labor ministers are caught up in this deception, and at least two, Minister Aly and Minister Watt, have clearly misled the parliament. Today I call on Minister Aly and Minister Watt to come into the parliament and correct their statements. There are clear rules that should be enforced about misleading the parliament, and I ask that these ministers follow them.

I understand why Labor ministers want to use data from coalition government skills and education policies. We handed the Albanese government a skills and training system not just trending up but powering ahead on the back of record investments guaranteed by a strong economy. Our policies invested over $13 billion in skills over the past two years of our government alone. We didn't just clean up Labor's mess; we made the most significant reforms to Aussie skills in over a decade. Our policy settings got apprenticeship numbers up to record levels. We did all of this while saving a generation of Australian workers from the biggest hit to our workforce since the Great Depression.

I will remind the chamber of the record of the Labor Party. When last in government, everything they touched on skills went bad. Apprenticeship numbers took a nosedive. When Labor last left office, apprentice and trainee numbers were in freefall, with the number in training collapsing by 22 per cent. Labor's VET FEE-HELP disaster saw the reputation of the Australian skills system hit rock bottom, as tens of thousands of Australians were loaded up with debt for doing courses that would never land them a job.

The scheme established by the Labor government in 2008 and expanded in 2012 was plagued by systemwide rorting, with some training providers exploiting loose rules and charging students substantial debts for training they never undertook or benefited from. It also targeted people with disabilities and substance abuse issues, public housing residents, those from non-English-speaking backgrounds and others with offers of free laptops and other incentives, and the taxpayer is still picking up the tab for this enormous public policy failure, which is now over $3.5 billion. Who presided over all of this? It was none other than the now-returned Minister for Skills and Training, the member for Gorton.

We've also discovered that new data from NCVER demonstrates that Labor are at it again, with the Albanese government overseeing a wholesale collapse in the number of apprentices and trainees in every single state and almost every electorate across the nation. After just one year of Labor, there are 50,000 fewer apprentices and trainees in training today than when Labor took office. That is a loss of one in 10. The data, which has also been broken down by electorate, shows that, in the final year of the coalition government, in-training numbers increased in every electorate bar one while, under the first year of Labor's skills policies, the number of apprentices and trainees dropped in every electorate except four. I see that the member for Robertson may be speaking on this motion. His electorate on the Central Coast has taken a six per cent hit to apprentices and trainees in one year of Labor. In the final year of the Liberal government, numbers went up 24 per cent. The member for Chisholm may be speaking on this motion. Her electorate in Melbourne is one of the worst hit. In just one year of Labor, Chisholm lost one in five apprentices and trainees. During the last year under the Liberal government, numbers went up 70 per cent.

Labor came to power promising it would solve the skills shortages, but in fact this government has misled the parliament and the Australian people with factually incorrect information, and skills and training, which are so important for our economy, are sliding backwards.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clearly, on the issues of skills, there are some sensitivities from those opposite. I'd feel pretty sensitive too if a decade of neglect were exposed by the current government, which I am really delighted to be a part of. I know how well we're doing in the skills sector because I actually speak to people in my electorate who are enrolled in the skills system. I know that, through fee-free TAFE—a Labor initiative—we are addressing the skills shortage with an additional 300,000 fee-free TAFE places just this year. Of course last year we absolutely exceeded our targets.

Let's talk about early childhood education and the work that our early childhood education sector carers do. I spend time listening to our educators. In fact I recently hosted a roundtable in my electorate with Minister Aly and listened to educators, parents and people in the community who really want to see the sector do well. What we heard was that our government is making historic strides in ensuring that educators and families are getting access to the kind of high-class, well-supported system that we all deserve in this country. We know how important the early years are and how important the skilled and compassionate educators are in ensuring that we're setting up our youngest community members for the future. In my own electorate we have nearly 220 education centres and 1,100 early childhood educators. When we came into government, we had the biggest skills shortages in 60 years. Despite what those opposite might want to tell people, we know that that's the case and we know that we've been making strides. Our Jobs and Skills Summit was one of the very earliest events that our government held. Of course we heard there that enhancing the early childhood system would be good not just for children, which of course it is, and not just for the economy, which of course it is, but for workforce participation of women. I'm really delighted to say that we've been globally recognised as making enormous strides in closing the gender pay gap and doing more around gender equity, partly due to the increased workforce participation of women in the economy.

We as a government are making it easier for Australians to gain the skills they need for a rewarding career in early childhood education. I've had the great privilege in my working life, both before entering this place and since, of working with and meeting with early childhood educators, including through the United Workers Union. They are such passionate workers. They care so much about the children, the families and the communities they serve, and they are the best advocates for people pursuing a career in early childhood education and training. In fact, since we've come to government, our early childhood education and care sector has grown by more than 20,000 workers. We know that this is vital for ensuring that we see improvements in women's workforce participation and that we ensure that children are able to benefit from structured education in those early years. And, of course, this is good for the economy, too.

We know that there's more to do. We are, after all, trying to recover from a decade of neglect by the previous government. Our government knows that supporting a pipeline of workers is critical to addressing shortages in this sector but also, of course, in many other sectors that were neglected by that previous government. We, as a government, understand the importance of getting wages moving, particularly in low-paid, female-dominated sectors like early childhood education and care.

We also need to do everything we can to properly value and recognise the profession, to ensure that we not only attract but retain the workers that are already in the sector. That's why our government has prioritised working with early childhood education providers and workers, to develop and deliver practical solutions to retain staff. I have mentioned the fee-free TAFE positions that we've provided, with increased wages. And, of course, workers are going to be better off under the tax cuts that our government is initiating. So, after nearly a decade of neglect and inaction from the previous government, I'm so proud to be part of a government that takes children, families and workers in the early childhood education sector seriously.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a motion about misleading the parliament, so I might make remarks relevant to the actual motion, for a change, for a bit of excitement in the chamber here! But I'll start by firstly acknowledging and paying tribute to all those people who work in the childcare sector and the care sector more broadly. We're very lucky to have such dedicated people working in the sector—and also, indeed, some who volunteer in the sector. I know that any local member would have had similar experiences, of visiting many of the childcare centres in our electorates. We're very grateful for the work that's done there, particularly over some very difficult and challenging years with COVID. The childcare sector, like so many others, really did make an enormous contribution, through sacrifice, to support the varied and necessary responses to that challenging time. So my praise and best wishes and thanks to all those who work in the childcare sector.

I was a member of the previous government, and we were very proud to do so much to assist and invest in the sector and to train for the workforce needs in the sector. That's why I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on the record of our government in that space.

This indeed is a motion that, in some ways, thanks the ministers in the new government for the inadvertent praise they've heaped upon the previous government. They've accidentally forgotten to accurately link certain achievements to the performance of the previous government, and—accidentally, no doubt!—claimed it all for themselves.

But the good news is: we can now correct the record, because we've got some very clear clarification through the important freedom-of-information processes that we have access to, where we've managed to get some unequivocal evidence from the Department of Education on just what the situation is when it comes to the record and legacy of the previous government, regarding training for important educators, teachers and carers in this sector. Documents produced by the Department of Education under FOI, which were provided to ministers in the new government, made some very good points about what was happening when it came to training in the sector. As public servants in the education department advised ministers, through the FOI documents we obtained, there's a figure of 123,000 training places, which is used by ministers in the new government. Helpfully, the education department has made it very clear that that figure relates to the year 2021 as to higher education data and 2022 as to VET data. That's 123,000. The ministers in the new government were good enough to spruik that excellent outcome, of 123,000, and praised that figure in a number of press releases and even in the parliament—even on the record in the Hansard, subject to all of the necessary requirements of not misleading the House, as we know. While we appreciate the comments from ministers about that figure, they've accidentally neglected to point out that that figure is thanks to the performance of the previous government, and it happened in the Senate—which I won't dwell on, because we're not interested in that chamber here in the Federation Chamber, but we are interested in the people's house, the House of Representatives. A little concerning was Minister Aly's answer to a question on 18 October, where she talked about informing the House:

… that since the Albanese Labor government came to office there are over 14,000 new educators in the sector and 123,000 in training pathways …

Hansard reflects that she indicated that was since the Albanese Labor government came to office. Unfortunately, we find in these document that have been released to the opposition that an email to the minister's office from the department very clearly stated:

Framing this aggregate figure as 'Since May 2022'—

when the Albanese government came to government—

is not accurate.

That's from the dispassionate, independent Public Service. I am sure we have no doubt that they're right. I'm sure no-one would dispute advice from the Public Service. So this is very concerning. We'd like to see the minister reflect on what was advised to her office and what she has advised the House and decide whether or not the record needs to be corrected. We certainly raise it through this motion. I commend my good friend the member for Moncrieff and thank the deputy leader for her comments and urge the minister and this parliament to reflect on that and look for opportunities to correct the record.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk about early childhood education. Early learning educators do a vital job, making it possible for millions of other Australians to do their jobs too and supporting young children's early learning and development. Yet when we came to government we inherited a skills crisis in the early childhood education sector and many other sectors as well. In fact, we inherited the biggest skills shortage in 60 years. This how the Liberals and Nationals treated the TAFE and VET sectors.

This government has completely different approach. We are making it easier for Australians to gain the skills they need for a rewarding career in early childhood education. Through our fee-free TAFE policy we are addressing the skills shortage with an additional 300,000 fee-free TAFE places being rolled out from the start of this year, expanding on the success that we have already seen from the investment last year. I know that here in Canberra we have seen that taken up by many, many people at CIT. Because of this government's policy, we saw 14,304 fee-free enrolments in early childhood education and care cases from 1 January 2023 to 30 September 2023. Since coming to government Australia's early childhood education and care sector has grown by more than 20,000 workers. There are also a further 123,000 additional educators and teachers in the training pipeline. The Albanese government knows that supporting a pipeline of workers is critical to addressing the shortages in the sector left by those opposite.

Our government also understands that supporting the early childhood workforce includes not just praising the workforce but also providing a fair wage. Getting wages moving, particularly in low-paid, female-dominated sectors such as early childhood education and care, is a prominent feature of our economic policies. In partnership with stakeholders, we have already helped deliver a 4.6 per cent award increase in 2022 and a 5.75 per cent award increase in 2023 for 113,000 early childhood educators.

Our government is also working with the sector to develop and deliver practical solutions to retain staff while continuing to develop and strengthen recruitment and training pathways. We have already funded university places for early education teachers as well as fee-free TAFE. We are also accelerating implementation of the National Children's Education and Care Workforce Strategy to address workforce challenges in the short to long term.

Our government is also supporting the sector's workforce in the fight against inflation by giving every worker a tax cut. Under Labor's tax cut, early childhood educators and teachers will also be better off when compared to the previous government's plan. An early childhood educator at the start of their career earning $46,000 a year will now receive an $829 tax cut and an early childhood teacher earning $69,000 a year will receive a $1,404 tax cut.

It is important to recognise that a supported, valued workforce is critical to making early childhood education and care more accessible and affordable to Australian families. That's why we invested $72.4 million to support the skills and training of a quality and sustainable early childhood education and care sector. The funding helps staff to access professional development and complete the practical section of their study.

Our package will also help build skills and strengthen the supply of qualified early childhood education and care workers. This important investment will support the quality and highly trained early childhood education and care workforce through improved access to professional development opportunities, making it easier for educators to upskill and progress in their careers. The package includes targeted support to retrain staff and support skills development for educators, including those in regional and remote communities and First Nations early education staff and services. This vital investment will ensure high-quality early childhood educators remain in the sector, with clear opportunities for career advancement.

Our government is committed to supporting this sector by properly skilling its workforce, guaranteeing secure jobs and providing a positive place for our children in their earliest years to ensure the best start in life. It is only a Labor government that can be trusted to support our early childhood education and care sector. Clearly, while recognition is so important, it takes more than that. It takes investment in training opportunities and career pathways for these critical workers in our community.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's no doubt that child care is an issue that is significant for many families. As this motion rightly points out, and as the member for Canberra did quote, the 123,000 early childhood educators and teachers were in the pipeline thanks to the Morrison coalition government. It's great to see some bipartisan support. Those opposite are recognising the great work of the former government in those 123,000 people.

I hear from local constituents about that challenges that their families and young families are having in the Dandenong Ranges, in Yarra Valley and all across Casey in getting access to child care. It's particularly important when we talk about long day care. Long day care is crucial in a community like mine because many mothers and fathers, many families, have to drop their children off early. They have over an hour's commute if they work in the CBD. They need to have the ability to drop them off early and pick them up late. If they don't have that opportunity, then they're not able to work in the CBD. It limits their options. So it's crucial that we create more places. It's economics 101. If there's more supply it brings prices down. In 18 months of this government they have not invested one extra dollar into increasing the supply of childcare places.

I'm looking forward to having the shadow minister for early childhood education, Angie Bell, out to Casey next Monday. We'll be visiting early childhood centres, talking to them and understanding first-hand their challenges and what we can do to help them. I've been engaging with the community on this issue since elected. I want to thank Belinda from Mums of the Hills, which is a great organisation representing many families and mothers across Casey and across our community. I was talking to her late last year about this very issue She sent me an article from the ABC which identified this startling figure for our community: there are between 15.43 and 15.87 children competing for every one childcare place in our community. That's putting pressure on families not just to be able to get a spot but also with the price they're paying, despite what this government says.

One family in my community has gone from paying $162 per day to $175 per day. They're $8 a day worse off after the increase in the subsidy last year. Another family has had a $13 a day increase, from $129 to $142 a day. Let's put that into context. Many on the other side have spent the last week talking about the stage 3 tax cut changes that they've made. What they don't talk about is that the change will deliver $15 a week from 1 July. Conveniently, they also don't talk about the $1,500 a year they ripped away from low- and middle-income earners last year when they let the offset lapse. For a family where it's gone up $13 a day, this government's crowing about $15 a week, and under this government every dollar is crucial. It just shows how out of touch the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Labor government are that they think $15 a week in five months is the solution to the cost-of-living crisis for young families in my community.

They talk about this claim of the 1,400 educators and the 123,000 in training, happy to take credit for the work of the former coalition government, because at its core that's the reality of the Albanese Labor government. It's all about spin. It's all about optics. It's all about running lines again and again, misleading, whether it is the trillion dollars of debt, which ABC Fact Check proved was a lie. It's claiming the work of the former government.

But there is something that this Prime Minister, who has been in this House since 1996, needs to understand. It doesn't matter what we say in this House; it matters what we do for families getting child care, for cost-of-living relief. You can talk about $15 a week in five months time. It helps no-one in my community today. It doesn't help them in March, April, May or June. They need relief today, and this Prime Minister insults them by patting himself on the back, talking about ABC documentaries in question time, thinking that every problem in the world is solved because he misled the Australian people over 100 times. I condemn this Prime Minister.

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The federal Labor government is working hard to ensure Australia's education system is one of the best in the world. Since our election in May 2022, our significant reforms are making outstanding improvements in the early childhood education and care sector. Our government is getting on with the job of governing and building a better future for all Australians and not just some, as was so often the case under the former Liberal and National government. Our government understands that, after a decade of lost opportunities, under those opposite, we have been left with a skills shortage crisis. Those opposite were asleep at the wheel and, when they were working, they were working against each other, as we've all seen in the ABC series Nemesis. What a shameful period in Australia's political history: no vision and no legacy.

I'm proud to be part of a federal Labor government that is now addressing this skills shortage. This year we will again provide up to 300,000 fee-free TAFE positions, including for those Australians wanting to pursue a career in the early childhood education and care sector. Early learning teachers and educators do a vital job making it possible for millions of other Australians to do theirs and also supporting children's early learning and development. Our government is making it easier for Australians to gain the skills they need for a rewarding career in early childhood education, and we are seeing this through our governments fee-free TAFE courses. Already we can see that this policy is working to increase the training of educators across Australia. From early 2023 to September 2023, our government recorded that 14,304 Australians had enrolled in early childhood education and care courses—a fantastic result that our government will continue to build upon in the weeks, months and definitely years ahead.

Further, this government recognises that, to attract more Australians to train and become educators, we need to remunerate them properly. That is why we are getting wages moving again, particularly in low-paid sectors of the economy. This federal Labor government is working with the early childhood education sector to deliver practical solutions to retain staff while continuing to develop and strengthen recruitment and training pathways. Already we have delivered a 4.6 per cent award increase in 2022 and a 5.75 per cent award increase in 2023, with more being done to improve the pay and conditions of educators in 2024.

Here's another way we are helping educators: Labor's tax cuts. I'm pleased to advise the chamber that early childhood educators will be better off following labour's tax cuts that will come into effect from 1 July this year. Are childhood educator earning $46,000 a year will now receive an $829 tax cut. And early childhood teacher earning $69,000 will receive a $1,404 tax cut. This is great news for educators and early childhood teachers, who have been overlooked and underappreciated for too long by those in the Liberal and National parties.

Recently I had the pleasure of hosting an early childhood education and care forum in my home electorate of Robertson. It was a brilliant opportunity for providers, educators, teachers and families to speak with me about what our government can continue to do to build upon the reforms we have already implemented within this sector. I would like to provide a special shout-out to local Central Coast residents Jess Coulson, Mandy Millan and Samantha Mann, who have already been advocating on behalf of thousands of families across the Central Coast for improvements in the early childhood education and care sector. These three women have been pivotal in setting up our early childhood education and care forum to discuss these challenges and issues that are affecting the sector more broadly.

This is not the end of our government's work. The federal Labor government will continue to address these issues affecting the early childhood education and care sector now and into the future across every electorate—including Casey! I say to the opposition: you had a decade to address the issues that are developing within this sector right now, and you chose to do nothing. The opposition chose to do nothing, and now we are left to deal with this significant neglect. To those opposite: stop criticising the positive reforms we are making and start working with this government to build a better future for all.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired.