Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move the Greens amendment on sheet 3002:

(1) Clause 11, page 6 (lines 20 to 23), omit paragraph (3)(a), substitute:

(a) include provisions to permit amounts paid to the recipient under the grant to be used in relation to the remuneration of workers, who are within a class specified in the agreement for this purpose, that is at least 25% above the worker's current remuneration; and

With this bill, the government has the opportunity to give long overdue recognition to underpaid, overworked early childhood educators. Instead of delivering the 25 per cent pay increase the sector and unions called for—and which, let's be clear, this workforce deserves—this bill offers them 10 per cent less. Ninety-seven per cent of the early childhood education workforce are women who have fought long and hard for a well-deserved pay rise. For these workers, pay parity is critical to addressing the gender pay gap. Teachers are teachers no matter where they work, and they should not be paid differently. I urge the government to amend the wage increase to 25 per cent so that we can deliver genuine wage justice for our early childhood educators in this country.