Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

(—) (): I thank the senator for her question, but the priority of the government has been to assist the lowest paid within the childcare workforce. You would be aware that the states also have responsibilities in terms of the teaching requirements, and we have seen disputes across a number of states. As a result of the intransigence of state governments in meeting their obligations to assist meeting the wages bill of qualified teachers in various centres and various settings across the state education system, we have seen that the rundown in the education system has meant that there has been a significant reduction in the amount of money that is actually going towards the indexation arrangements for our education system. So, in fact, these state budget cuts have led to a reduction in funding—(Time expired)