Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time I had before the debate on the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024 was interrupted on 10 October, I was making the point that the coalition values, as it should, the role that early childhood educators and childcare workers play in the education of our youngest students. That is why the coalition certainly doesn't stand in the way of a wage rise for early childhood educators and teachers. But of course we do have some very real concerns.

Those concerns, from my electorate's perspective, deal with issues around accessibility of child care, but I'll speak to those issues a little later. What I want to do is highlight some of the headline concerns. I spoke to the first issue before debate was interrupted, which is that this increase, whilst welcomed, is slated to cease on 30 November 2026. So it does beg the question that I asked previously: what happens after 2026? What happens beyond that date? It's a very important question and it's one that hasn't been resolved by those opposite. In fairness, it ought to be. I don't think we should regard this as anything other than a pre-election sugar hit unless that question is resolved by giving the detail around it.

The second principal concern I have with this is I don't understand why, in a situation where we're looking to provide early childhood educators and childcare workers a wage increase, this has to be effected, if you like, via a workplace instrument. We live in the real world and the reality is the reason why it's being effected by a workplace instrument and why a workplace instrument needs to be in place for a service to access this grant funding is this is in an effort to appease unions.

In a sense the Albanese Labor government is covertly attempting, by stealth, to unionise the early childhood sector. That is completely unnecessary and feeds to this suggestion that, again, this is not only a pre-election sugar hit but it's also about growing the size of the unionised workforce in the country—a workforce which, left to its own devices, is becoming a small fraction of the working population in Australia.

The next concern I've got with this approach is the troubling habit we're now seeing from those opposite. I've made the point that all educators do incredibly valuable work and of course we want them to be better paid for the work they do. And we in the coalition want to see higher real wages, but that's the point. It's real wages that we're focused on; higher real wages for hardworking childhood educators and, in fact, higher real wages for all Australians. But the key to meaningful wage increases isn't sugar hits like the one contained in this bill. It's about doing the hard work to bring down inflation and to boost labour productivity.

I fear those opposite have given up the fight to bring downward pressure on inflation and boost labour productivity.

My friend opposite scoffs, but every day they come into this place and almost every measure is effectively targeted towards driving up the cost of everything, whether it is energy policy or industrial relations policy. Perhaps those opposite—the member interjecting in particular—might want to reflect on the real cost to Australian families of 12 consecutive interest rate increases. I would have thought the Queensland election not 10 days ago might have been an opportunity for those opposite to get real-world feedback, but of course they haven't. That's fine. Let's proceed through to March, because I think in March there will be some more real-world feedback for those opposite.

I want to talk about childcare deserts. In my electorate there are many places where, it doesn't matter how much you are prepared to pay for child care, there is no child care. There are other places where child care is provided one half-day a fortnight and it's delivered out of the boot of a car. It's completely unacceptable. Those opposite have spent two years tinkering with the arrangements for child care, increasing subsidies for those who can put their children in child care and now increasing notional wages. Of course, that's not in real terms but in notional terms. It has done nothing—not one additional place.

While I've had the pleasure and the privilege of being the member for Barker, this has become a real issue. It's increasingly an issue in regional communities. And so what have I done? We've always tried to find solutions. In the community of Southern Mallee, in Lameroo and Pinnaroo, there was no childcare service. In the course of the last term, the coalition government, together with the Southern Mallee District Council, with my advocacy, were able to build not one but two childcare facilities in the communities of Lameroo and Pinnaroo. How did we do it? We took drought funding. As a community they decided that the No. 1 priority in their community in the midst of a drought was to build childcare facilities. You might think for a moment think: is there an obvious connection between drought funding and child care? But if you live in a rural community you'll understand it. One of the best ways to drought-proof your farming enterprise is to create off-farm income. In many of these communities, one or other of the parents was required to stay at home on duty because there was no opportunity for child care. Not in all cases but in a lot of these cases professional women were at home caring for children in circumstances where the broader community was screaming for people to join or re-enter the workforce—as nurses at local hospitals, teachers at local schools, farm contractors, you name it. That's what we've seen at those facilities. We've seen those facilities built. They are run by the Southern Mallee District Council. As a result, many people have been able to re-enter the workforce. It was not just those communities. The community of Karoonda did similar, building a childcare facility.

These communities ought not to have to rely on ad hoc and occasional grant funds to achieve these outcomes, not when the Commonwealth is spending such significant sums in and around child care. What we need to see is a set of policies that not only address affordability and questions around employment and ensuring there are enough childcare workers and early educators. We need policies that are focused on addressing the childcare deserts, because it's not right that people in my electorate don't enjoy the same sort of support that people in rural cities like the one I come from or indeed the capital cities like colleagues sitting opposite come from enjoy. That's what we need. We need a balanced approach to the question of child care.

I am reminded that, where we have the resources, we need to balance them appropriately. I come from the great state of South Australia. Not many people know this, but South Australia has the greatest dichotomy in the world—not in Australia, but in the world—between the number of its citizens living in a capital city relative to its next largest city. That's 1.3 or so million people in Adelaide and 25,000 or so people living in my hometown of Mount Gambier. It speaks to the difference for South Australia, in particular, of that disparate population.

While I come from Mount Gambier, with a population of 25,000 people, I also represent communities and local councils that have as few as a thousand ratepayers. I mentioned two in my contribution: the Southern Mallee District Council and the District Council of Karoonda East Murray. These councils are leaning into child care not because they're appropriately resourced to but because they have to. I call out to those opposite—and I say this on the basis that these councils often have very large road assets in very broad council areas but with a very small population basis—if it's good enough and important enough and high enough a priority for those very small councils, like the government authorities in my electorate, to make accessibility of child care a priority, which isn't a traditional responsibility of local government, then it's got to be good enough for those opposite to take responsibility for governing for all Australians seriously.

If those opposite were governing for all Australians, then they wouldn't be doing the bidding of the union movement in this bill. Instead, they would be thinking deeply about what remote, regional and rural Australians need as well. I fear that those opposite increasingly don't have anywhere near the front of their minds, in policy debates or considerations, the concerns, the wants and, in this case, the needs of rural, regional and remote Australians.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This bill is not only timely, or, arguably, well overdue, but critical for the future of our early childhood education sector and, by extension, the wellbeing of our society as a whole. This bill will provide much-needed wage support for early childhood education and care workers across the country. These professionals, who provide important education services and support to our younger citizens, have been underpaid, underappreciated and overworked for far too long. It's high time we address this injustice and recognise the value of their contribution not only to our children's development but also to our broader economy.

It's a truth universally acknowledged and often said in this place that caring for children is the most important job you can do. Early childhood education and care workers are at the forefront of shaping the next generation. Gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive development, emotional regulation, socialisation—research consistently shows that the first five years of a child's life are critical to their cognitive, emotional, physical and social development. These early experiences lay the foundation for success in school and in life. When children are nurtured, cared for and educated by qualified professionals during this formative period, they are more likely to grow up to be productive, confident and engaged members of our society. Yet, despite the clear evidence of the importance of early childhood education, we continue to undervalue the work of those who dedicate their lives in this field. Early childhood educators, the majority women, are paid significantly less than other workers with equivalent qualifications, often struggling to make ends meet. It is unacceptable that the people who help raise and educate our children are forced to contend with financial insecurity.

Early childhood work is challenging but it's a rewarding career, and we want it to be a career of choice. We want graduates to choose to work with young children and to choose to put their skills to use to give these children the best possible start to their education and their future lives. We want them to stay in the sector knowing they have a long, satisfying and financially rewarding career ahead of them, not, as currently happens, to leave the sector because they cannot afford to support themselves and their families on the low wages. This bill seeks to right this wrong by creating a funding mechanism to support better wages for these essential workers. Decent wages are critical to reversing attrition and growing the workforce. But, more than that, this is vital to the sustainability of the sector. Early childhood education services have been delaying expansion plans, closing rooms, limiting enrolments and not expanding because they can't find qualified staff. This is impacting the availability of early childhood education and care for families across the country.

A couple of weeks ago the Productivity Commission released a report that said that building the workforce is the first step to increasing access to ECEC for families. The wage justice bill will help address significant workforce shortages by supporting the delivery of a wage increase of 15 per cent for eligible workers over two years. A typical early childhood educator will receive an additional $103 a week from December 2024, increasing to at least $155 a week from December 2025. A typical early childhood teacher will receive an additional $166 a week from December 2024, increasing to at least $249 a week from December 2025.

The wage justice bill also establishes terms and conditions of the ECEC worker retention payment grant, including a limit on fee increases that can be charged by providers. I know that the possibility of fee rises is a concern to parents and families, so I want to reiterate this point: the bill establishes a limit on fee increases. This will put downward pressure on fees, helping to make child care more affordable for more families.

The wage justice bill also encourages good faith bargaining and the making of enterprise agreements in the early childhood education and care sector. It will also help support the steps the government has already taken to make ECEC cheaper for Australian families. Paying ECEC workers fairly is a crucial step in charting the course to universal accessibility of early childhood education and care.

There are also significant economic reasons to support this bill. A strong, well-compensated early childhood education workforce contributes to the overall strength of the economy. By ensuring that parents have access to affordable, high-quality childcare, we enable more people to participate in the workforce, particularly women, who are often the primary caregivers.

When we invest in early childhood education, we are investing in workforce participation, productivity and economic growth. But, beyond economic factors, this bill is about fairness. Early childhood educators do not provide babysitting services. They are highly trained professionals who deliver complex, emotionally demanding and intellectually stimulating services. Their work is vital to the wellbeing of children who are, after all, the future of our country. When we here have retired, these children are the people who will be caring for us in the healthcare or aged-care sectors, building infrastructure, managing the banking system, growing our food, making export commodities and much more. It is in all of our interests that these children are well-educated, and it's time we recognised the important role of early childhood educators in the future of our country. You recognise important work through fair compensation.

It is also important to note that underpaid workers are more likely to leave the profession, contributing to high turnover rates and staff shortages. This instability undermines the quality of care provided to children and places additional stress on remaining workers. By increasing wages, we can help stabilise the workforce, reduce turnover and improve the overall quality of early childhood education and care services.

This bill also speaks to the issue of gender equality. As I mentioned earlier, the early childhood education workforce is overwhelmingly female, with women making up over 95 per cent of the sector. The low wages in this field are a reflection of the broader issue of gender based pay inequality, where work traditionally associated with women is undervalued and underpaid. Supporting wage increases in early childhood education is a crucial step forward to addressing gender pay disparities and recognising the true value of work in female dominated professions. As one worker said to me, 'It's not pin money; it's my career.'

On this side of the House, we often talk about closing the gender pay gap, and here is a concrete opportunity to do so. This government has managed to achieve the lowest ever gender pay gap, of just 11.5 per cent, and that hasn't happened by accident; it has happened because of targeted, deliberate policies such as this one—policies targeted at increasing wages in low paid, female dominated sectors—along with other strategies such as tax cuts being for all Australians, not just those on high wages; paid domestic violence leave; and an extension of paid parental leave, along with sharing arrangements. Now this bill will raise the wages of all workers in the predominantly female workforce of early childhood education. If we are serious about equality, about providing opportunities for women and about a fair wage for a fair day's work, we must address the chronic underpayment of early childhood educators, and this bill provides us with the tools to do just that.

Let us also consider the broader societal impacts of supporting early childhood education workers. When early childhood educators are fairly compensated, we not only ensure that our children are receiving high-quality care and education but also send a clear message about what we value as a society. Are we a society that values the wellbeing and development of our youngest members? Are we a society that values fairness and gender equity? Are we a society that values qualified workers being paid fairly for their skilled work? This bill is an opportunity for us to say yes to all of those questions. It is an opportunity for us to make a meaningful investment in our future, in our children and in the people who support them in their early learning journey.

In conclusion, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill is about more than just increasing wages, important as that is. It's about recognising the value of early childhood education and care workers, addressing gender pay inequity, stabilising a vital workforce and ensuring that our children have access to the high-quality care that they deserve. Early childhood education workers are some of the most important workers in the country and for our economy, and they deserve to be paid fairly. By supporting this bill we are not only doing what is right for early childhood educators but also investing in the future of our children and the future of our nation. I urge all members of this House to support this important piece of legislation. Let us stand together for wage justice, for gender equity and for the future of early childhood education in this country.

Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, which creates grants for early childhood education and care providers to support a wage increase for their workers. I want to talk about why accessible, quality childcare is important for kids and families, why it's important that we pay childcare workers better, the structure of the bill and some concerns with it, and further reform that is needed.

Child care is important for both kids and families. For kids, quality early childhood education is linked to improved academic achievement, reduced delinquency, increased school completion, higher earners in adulthood and improved social and emotional wellbeing. Children from lower socioeconomic groups experience greater and more enduring benefits from early childhood education than children from higher socioeconomic groups. For families, greater access to quality early childhood education and care increases female participation in paid work.

I've heard a range of views about the modelling done by the Productivity Commission in relation to the impact of greater access to care on female workforce participation. From personal experience, I wouldn't be surprised if this impact was understated in the PC modelling. Anecdotally, mums I know make decisions about returning to work based on the care that's available and it's cost. Having had kids in every combination of childcare options when they were small while I worked part time, I remember being asked to come into work for a meeting on a day when I was scheduled to be at home. If I was lucky enough to be able to add a casual daycare day, it cost me more than $100 per kid. I wasn't paid anything extra to come in on that day, so it cost me a lot to be flexible. Even in a well paid job, it was sometimes only marginally financially beneficial to work.

I also know how much my kids gained from the stimulation of being in centre based care and how important the workers there were to their development. Educators at my kids' childcare centres taught them things that kept surprising me as a parent. They came home with new knowledge, new ways of resolving conflict and the inevitable new viruses to build up their immune systems.

Childcare workers are underpaid. About 221,000 people are employed in the early childhood education and care sector. Like other professions traditionally considered women's work, we've systematically undervalued child care. The Productivity Commission has found that early childhood educators are just above the lowest paid decile when measured against other occupations. Early childhood education and care workers are paid less than people in other sectors with similar qualifications and are paid significantly less than primary and secondary school teachers, even though the years before a child turns five are a crucial time for learning. All you need to do is spend a few hours in a childcare centre, and you realise how underpaid educators are. They need to have patience, compassion, curiosity and good immune systems to do those jobs. We need to attract people to work in child care. It's such an important time for our kids' learning.

I'm very proud that my son, George, who's studying astrophysics at ANU, is also working part time in child care. He loves it. He loves helping kids learn how to solve problems and sharing the wonder that he finds in the world with them. Child care needs more people like George, and paying them a decent wage is a good start to attracting a vibrant and diverse workforce. I recognise that there's an inherent tension between improving access to early childhood education, and care for more people, and paying childcare workers more. Centre based day care in Australia is relatively less affordable for Australian households than in most other OECD countries. Obviously paying people more makes child care more expensive indirectly, but a pay increase recognises the inherent value of this type of work, attracts more people and contributes to the quality of care. It's worth noting that the proposed wage increases fall short of the union's calls for a 25 per cent wage increase but are a significant step up.

The structure of this bill is a bit clunky. It creates a special account to fund grants to early childhood education and care providers to support a wage increase for their workers. To be eligible, providers will need to increase workers' wages by 10 per cent above the current award in the year of payment and 15 per cent above the current award in the second. Providers will need to limit fee increases a maximum of 4.4 per cent in the first year and meet other conditions. I understand it's been set up like this to ensure funding allocated goes directly to workers and not to providers' bottom lines.

There are four issues with the bill that I want to comment on: it's inflationary impact, the lack of allocated funding, its short-term nature and the discretionary powers that it creates. Firstly, will this bill have an inflationary impact? Based on modelling, it could, effectively, be an injection of $3.6 billion over the next few years. Some providers may not take it up if they're already paying above the award, if they don't want to agree to the cap on fees, if they don't have an appropriate workplace instrument or if theirs covers more than the specific types of workers eligible for the grant. Of course, the extent to which it's taken up is correlated to its inflationary effect. I am concerned about any injection of funds that could be inflationary at this time, when inflation is having such a huge impact on cost of living.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate will be resumed at a later hour, and the member will be granted leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.