Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During the winter recess, I had the opportunity to visit a number of my local schools. One of the real joys of this role is having the opportunity to visit our local schools. Whether it was for a book donation, a flag donation or a conversation to engage with older students—the five-sixes—it's always an opportunity to meet the young and future leaders. I had the opportunity to visit Harcourt Valley Primary School, Camp Hill Primary School, White Hills Primary School, St Therese's Primary School in Kennington and Eaglehawk Primary School.

What struck me the most was, regardless of whether it was a small school in Harcourt Valley, a large primary school like White Hills or a Catholic school in Kennington, when I had the discussion asking them, 'If you were Prime Minister, what would you focus on? What would be your priority?' the comments were the same. There was a strong focus on ending poverty, on ending homelessness and on making sure that everybody had a safe home. There was a real focus on the environment: getting plastics out of our ocean, protecting species, making sure that native species did not go extinct and acting on climate change. Naturally, being a regional electorate, roads do come up. A conversation about who is responsible for what roads always invites a chat about local, state and federal government.

What also came up was support and recognition of our First Nations Australians, our First Peoples, and recognition of a voice—listening to them, working with them. It made me proud to hear the pride in our young students when they talked about recognition and voice. But what also came up a lot when I spoke to these students was that they wanted people to be kinder to one another, to help each other out, to 'be good humans', as one student said to me.

I want to thank all the five-sixes I had the opportunity to meet with over the break. I thank them for their words, thank them for their ideas and thank them for allowing me to share them with this parliament.

Last week was Early Learning Matters Week, an opportunity for all of us to go out to our childcare centres, our early learning centres, to meet with educators, teachers and young people to learn more about what they do. I had the opportunity to attend Aspires in White Hills and Kennington to visit and meet with the teachers and educators and with the students and to have the opportunity to read books. At the Aspire centre at White Hills, the three-fours were able to read the book to me, it was that much of a favourite.

But what also happened last week in Early Learning Matters Week was the commitment from our government to give all workers in early childhood education a 15 per cent pay rise—a long overdue recognition of the value of their work. This pay rise will mean that people with a degree, with a diploma, who are currently on the award will finally be valued and paid a decent wage. I want to acknowledge the many members who have campaigned for this in the United Workers Union and, prior to that, United Voice, in the Big Steps campaign and acknowledge the way that they haven't just engaged with workers but have also brought their sector together. This truly is a partnership between industry, employers, unions, educators, teachers and the government to bring about wage equity for these members.

I want to give a shout-out to Lisa in my electorate, who works at Goodstart Strathfieldsaye, for her dedication. We bumped into each other on Friday morning and she couldn't believe it had happened. We had delivered. These workers, from December, will start to see the pay flow. What they know is that that will encourage educators and teachers back to the sector, people who loved their work but simply couldn't pay the bills because of the poverty wages. Attracting women back means that more rooms will open, meaning they can take more children next year. This is a good thing for our economy. This is a good thing particularly for women. This is a very good thing for young people in our electorate.