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

One thing that the House may not know is that during university I spent a bit of time doing some relief work, basically going into kindergartens and supporting the early educators by giving them a lunch break and giving them a bit of a break from their busy schedules of looking after some of our littlest community members. One thing you learn very quickly when becoming a relief teacher in a kindergarten is how impressive and how hardworking our early educators are. I used to do a couple of hours every day, and I used to come out of the kindergarten feeling really exhausted and physically tired because of how much energy you need in order to entertain and engage and look after these wonderful little people.

Our early educators do such a great job throughout the day of thinking about engaging activities, thinking about what each individual child needs and thinking about the sorts of things that are going to help make a young person prosper and grow. They are outstanding Australians, and they do such important work. It was only fitting that last week the minister, the Prime Minister and the entire government announced a 15 per cent increase in wages for our early educators. As someone who watched firsthand how important that job is and how good the people who do it are, I can say that that is money well spent. We couldn't pay them enough, frankly, to do that important work.

Recently, I have spent time going around my electorate and visiting a couple of my early education centres. There are a couple I want to bring to the attention of the House. The first one is the St Kilda and Balaclava Kindergarten, where I was privileged to attend with the Victorian government minister for early education, the wonderful Lizzie Blandthorn, and my outstanding local member for Southern Metropolitan in the upper house, Ryan Batchelor, who is one of the hardest working members indeed. We visited this fantastic local kindergarten, which is a not-for-profit community based centre that has been serving our community in Macnamara for over 110 years. They are operated and governed by a community board of management, many of whom I had a chance to have a chat with.

I was very pleased to go with the minister to confirm that the Victorian Labor government is giving them $750,000 to expand the early education centre to build a couple of new rooms up the back. It's one of those early education centres that, when you walk into it, you realise how special it actually is. It's this fantastic grounds, just behind Carlisle Street in my electorate. If you haven't been there, it has some of the best coffee in the country. It is a truly great place, and I was very pleased to be there with my state colleagues.

Another centre I want to raise in this place is the centre in Windsor. Windsor is an area that used to be in Macnamara. It is potentially going to return to Macnamara, pending the Australian Electoral Commission's decision to redraw the boundaries. The Windsor Community Children's Centre is another one of those extraordinarily special places in my electorate. The backyard in Windsor Community Children's Centre is so incredible. It has amazing shading. It has this big, beautiful outdoor area. You just walk in there, and you see that the kids are engaged and happy. It is another one of those wonderful not-for-profit centres. It was established in 1917. Parents put so much into that centre, and some of the educators and some of the staff there have been there for literally decades. I met the wonderful cook there, who is doing such a good job. As you walk in there, the smells are very enticing. It's certainly better than most of the lunches we have here in Parliament House. These educators are doing such a fantastic job.

Unfortunately, the thing that needs to be mentioned in this place is that the Windsor Community Children's Centre is potentially at risk. Swinburne university, who are the landholders of this particular site, are looking to sell the site. It is an extremely disappointing decision because that land was gifted to them. That land is zoned for educational purposes, and Swinburne is doing everything they can to rezone it and sell the land off, which really devalues what this special place actually is. This is a place that is for the community, this is a place that has been of the Windsor community, and this is a place that belongs to the people of Windsor. This community centre is one that has an 'exceeding' rating from ACECQA. It is an outstanding top-of-the-range centre. It does so much. I would urge Swinburne to reconsider this decision, to get behind and support the wonderful people of Windsor and to not just go for the cash grab but really value what this centre actually does. It is a place of learning, a place of education and a place that belongs in community hands.