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

Like the member for Canberra, my two children have also been engaged in early childhood education. My two are still engaged, both here at the Parliament House centre and at our centre in Bendigo. Like the member for Canberra and every other parent in this country with children in ECEC, their educators have been with my children at every one of those milestones, from toilet training to language, to developing those skills required to enter into primary school. Our educators are truly extraordinary in the way that they prepare our littlest Australians to be ready for school. Yet, for far too long, they've only been paid award rates or just above. They have not received the pay equity that they deserve for the important job that they have. That is why on 8 August it is our government that announced that we would increase the pay of our early childhood educators by 15 per cent. Today it is our government that introduced the bills, the legislation, to pay these pay rises. From December this year, these educators will start to receive this pay rise. This is a workforce that is 96 per cent women, and we are standing with them and saying, 'We don't just thank you; we will see you rewarded and paid what you're worth for the work that you do in early childhood education.'