Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026

Ms BYRNES (Cunningham) (12:02): In continuation from my speech during the last session of parliament: that's 900 local people who will receive this 15 per cent pay rise for another two years, and, for the first time, employees in all child-care-subsidy approved services will be eligible for the payment—and that includes the family-day-care and in-home sectors, which, I know, is really welcome news for local families who value choice when it comes to their children's care.

The Albanese Labor government announced the worker retention payment in 2024 and we saw immediately the impact that this had on the sector, particularly when combined with fee free TAFE. There are around 20,000 more early childhood education and care workers than before our announcement. That's an eight per cent increase.

Job vacancies have decreased by almost 31 per cent, and the percentage of services operating with a staffing waiver has fallen from 8.9 per cent to 4.3 per cent. At the same time, staff surveys are showing an increase in the number of workers who intend to stay in the sector, as well as improved educator wellbeing. That's really encouraging, and it's making a difference to services on the ground.

Not only are we paying early childhood education and care workers more, but we're also helping them to get trained for free. Since fee free TAFE began in 2023, there have been more than 65,000 enrolments in early childhood education and care courses across the country. Certificate III in early childhood education and care is now Australia's second-most-popular free TAFE course, representing six per cent of all free TAFE enrolments.

In New South Wales, these students can save up to an estimated $1,930, thanks to the investments by our Labor government. As the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Senator Jess Walsh, said: Free TAFE has been a game-changer for growing the ECEC sector. It's clear that our suite of policies to attract and retain high-quality early childhood education and care workers is paying dividends.

Another key thing that we have done through this worker retention payment grant is to ensure that services can only receive the payments if they commit to limiting fee increases. Fees at centres receiving the payment have grown at half the rate of centres that don't, showing that this link has been effective at keeping costs down for those 75 centres receiving the payment across Cunningham, and I know that this is incredibly important for local families.

I often hear from parents who are struggling with childcare costs. One parent recently told me that their centre had increased the family's fees by around 30 per cent over the last 2½ years. This mum told me how the repeated and significant increases in their fees were making it difficult for families like hers to remain in the workforce.

Stories like this are exactly why we have linked this payment with commitments to keeping fees lower to help support local families with childcare costs. We want to ease the cost-of-living pressures at the same time as delivering better early learning care for children and families. When we came to government, we came with a clear commitment to making child care cheaper.

Now more than one million families across Australia have benefited from our increases in the Child Care Subsidy. For a family earning $168,000 with one child in care 30 hours a week, cheaper child care cut out-of-pocket costs by around $7,440, and we expanded the Child Care Subsidy by replacing the punitive activity test with a guaranteed three days of subsidised care for all eligible children no matter what their parents do.

This guarantee expanded discounted care to 100,000 more families across Australia because we knew the importance of early education and we value those that are delivering it. There's another important condition on the worker retention payment grants that I want to touch on. This condition is around safety.

I'm not going to repeat the absolutely abhorrent stories we have heard through the media in recent times about serious safety failures in centres across Australia, but what these stories have shown is that we absolutely must do more to protect children in early childhood education and care settings. From July 2027, if services don't meet the national quality standard on children's health and safety, then they won't be eligible for this grant.

At the moment, around 95 per cent of services meet this standard, which is more than ever before. But we want that number to be higher, so we're providing another incentive for services to meet that standard because every family deserves to know that their children are safe. It was recently Early Learning Matters Week, and I had the absolute pleasure of visiting two of my local services to see firsthand the amazing work going on across the Illawarra.

After being out and about in our community, I was delighted to return to my office to be greeted by a very special and unexpected gift. The children and teachers from ECTARC Smith Street Education and Care Service had stopped by to deliver me a gorgeous purple card covered in sparkles and rainbows—personal favourite of mine—to tell me about their preschool. Inside were three questions: why do you like to come to ECTARC Smith Street?

What did you learn at preschool? Why is it important to come to preschool? The answers were absolutely delightful.

Ashton said, 'I like to go to preschool, because I find creatures.' Flossy said, 'We learn to look after plants.' Again from Flossy was, 'We learn to be nice, play with each other, help each other and get ready for big school.' Luci said, 'We do experiments to find things out.' Malu said, 'I just like to learn things.' Levi said, 'I like riding bikes.' Harriet said, 'I like to play mums and dads with my friends.' 'Playing with my friends' was also a very popular answer, including from Tom, Miggy, Winnie, Isla, Samaira and Carter.

Aypars said, 'I learn puzzles and numbers and letters and songs.' Hari said, 'I like eating lunch.' I decided to pop into Smith Street to say thanks. Hearing their excitement and seeing their pride in what they had created for me was a lovely reminder of why early learning matters so much. For children, these early years are about discovering who they are, building friendships, developing confidence and learning through play and exploration.

There was yet another present waiting for me. Sacha and his older brother Tristan had drawn me their dream playground, which they want to see built next door to Bellambi Public School. Sasha said the one that he wants the most is the flying fox, so I promised them I would ask Wollongong City Council about that because even inside a preschool I am still representing my constituents, both big and small.

The lord mayor, Tania Brown, has said she's really keen to visit, so watch this space on that playground. It was also wonderful to meet the lovely educators from Smith Street who bring such passion to their work. Their dedication creates an environment where local kids feel safe, supported and encouraged to learn at their own pace.

Thank you to general manager Kathryn Barker and all of the educators for welcoming me to your wonderful service. I'll also add that ECTARC celebrated its 40th birthday late last year, a remarkable milestone. Congratulations to CEO Anita Kumar and everyone who has worked to make ECTARC the beloved local service provider that it is today.

I also had the pleasure of visiting Kids' Uni Innovation Campus this Early Learning Matters Week. The centre has a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and it was clear that the educators are deeply committed to the children in their care. The staff talked about their commitment to play and relationship based learning, and shared the centre's unique history.

For a fun fact, the Kids' Uni at the Innovation Campus is actually located inside one of the surviving Nissen huts from the Balgownie Migrant Workers Hostel, built in around 1950. It's a really interesting part of local history. The children engaged enthusiastically, and the staff were passionate about the work that they do.

It was a wonderful example of the difference dedicated early-childhood professionals make every single day. It was also really valuable to hear directly from staff about the positive impact of the worker retention payment, supporting fair pay and improving retention of staff. We also discussed some of the challenges, and I will keep working with them through that process as well.

It was really encouraging to hear of their desire to expand the service and offer more places to help meet the growing needs of our Illawarra families. I want to sincerely thank Kids' Uni head of early education and safeguarding, Louise Windisch, and her entire team for taking the time to speak to me as well as for their work supporting local families. Back in May, I also visited Big Fat Smiles Stanwell Park early learning centre to see how they've been going since the transition to new management.

I know a lot of parents felt really strongly about this at the time, and it was wonderful to see how well local families and the centre staff had managed that transition. Once again, the commitment from the lovely staff to quality care and a strong relationship with local families was absolutely clear. I loved seeing the large, open outdoor environment surrounded by native gumtrees where the children often take part in 'bush kinder', exactly the kind of place where children can run, rest, wander and grow.

I want to give a big thank you to CEO Kim Bertino and centre director Sasha for the tour. These are the amazing people moulding the next generation of Illawarra leaders, and we are so grateful for their continued passion and dedication to that incredibly important role. Quality early education gives children the change to learn, to play, to make friends and to develop skills for the future.

When children have access to high-quality early learning, families are supported to work and study and children are given the foundations they need to thrive both at school and throughout their lives. We'll continue to do everything we can to support our early educators, ensure families can access high-quality, affordable care and give children the safe and nurturing environments that they deserve.