STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (13:50): Every single day, early childhood educators do one of the most important jobs in our country. They help children grow, learn and get ready for those most important school years. They also give parents peace of mind and keep driving our economy.
They are dedicated, essential and qualified. I literally would not be able to do my job without them. It's a vital job, and it's why the Albanese Labor government funded a 15 per cent pay rise for early childhood educators.
It's an investment that is tied to a commitment from childcare centres to limit fee increases, because we want to make sure that educators are being paid fairly, and we don't want to see families being burdened with extra costs. These changes mean that a full-time educator will earn up to $255 more per week and an early childhood teacher $410. For the first time, employees from the family day care and in-home care sectors will also be eligible for the payment starting from July.
This is how our government has been bolstering the early educator workforce and keeping costs down for families. For too long, early childhood educators were overlooked and undervalued by those opposite, and it meant that educators were leaving the sector in droves. But the war on childhood educators hasn't ended for those over there, and we've recently seen attacks from those opposite, particularly from One Nation, on these qualified educators.
They've flip-flopped on whether they support childhood educators and whether they support paid parental leave. But we've got a saying which goes, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them.' I believe that those opposite don't support early childhood educators. I know how important and essential this sector is.
Only Labor is backing early childhood educators and early childhood educator families. Thanks to Miss Tammy, Miss Cassie, Miss Tamara and Mr Leo for everything you do for Stevie.