Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026
Mr NEUMANN (Blair) (17:12): I'm pleased to speak in support of the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026. This morning, I looked at the list of speakers on this particular bill. I know it's got 'wage justice' in there, but, as at this morning, there was one crossbencher and 41 members of the Labor Party speaking on this bill and not one single Liberal or National Party person listed to speak on the bill today.
I hoped there could be some sort of Damascus Road conversion experience opposite. I know the Liberal and National parties aren't real good on wage justice when it comes to industrial relations, but I thought, after question time today, there might be some change on this particular bill. At 3.40 pm this afternoon, there were 37 Labor people speaking on this particular bill but not one Liberal or National Party person at all speaking on this bill.
I think the title of bill might say something about it—wage justice. That's what this bill is about. The Liberal and National parties, next time they go to a child care, an early childcare centre or something like that or talk about that—it should be very interesting conversations that they might have with the staff at that particular centre, because none of them bothered to speak on the bill in the House of Representatives.
I'll be interested to see how they vote in relation to it. There are a lot of priorities. It says much about those opposite in terms of their priorities.
On this side, we know every parent wants a great early education for their child, and we know that quality early learning starts with something pretty simple: valuing and supporting the people who provide that education for our young people. For years, low wages made it hard to attract and keep these educators. We can't just say we support them; we actually have to do practical things to support them.
That's why the Albanese government is locking in a 15 per cent pay rise through this legislation. We're helping build and retain a stable, dedicated workforce for our children, and our children deserve it. We know a quality workforce is a foundation of quality and safety in early learning.
It's about recognising the incredible work that early educators do in giving our kids the best start in life. It's part of our plan to build a stronger early education system for families across Australia, including in my community. The Albanese government has introduced this bill to lock in a 15 per cent pay rise for early educators.
Coalition members—the Liberal and National parties—don't like the concept of wage rises; they just don't. Wage justice is not something they really like. We want to strengthen the safety requirements for services, but we want to make sure that we can lock in pay rises for these much-valued workers who do great work.
The bill amends the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Act 2024 and credits the special account with $3.6 billion, extending the act's sunset date from 30 June to 2029 to 31 December 2029. This special account is used to administer the early childhood education and care worker retention payment grant to early education providers to fund higher wages for eligible workers.
Every day, early educators help kids learn, grow and get ready for school. It's one of the most important jobs in our country, and they deserve every cent they get. When we were first elected, the workforce in this sector had been undervalued and underpaid for far too long.
Early educators were leaving the job they loved in droves. Something had to be done to turn it around. Fortunately, that's now changing because of the 15 per cent pay rise the government delivered just over two years ago.
It's a win-win that has worked to bring more people into the early education workforce, and it keeps costs down for families at the same time, helping with cost of living. It turns out that, if you pay people more, more people want to do the job. Who knew that was something that we should think?
The Liberal and National parties should understand that, but they don't seem to get it. The amendment locks in that funding. When combined with our support for minimum wage rises, this means $255 more per week for a typical full-time educator and $410 more per week for early-childhood teachers compared to December 2024 when the government first implemented the pay rise.
Over 80 per cent of eligible services are now receiving a payment, and, since the pay rise was announced, there are now 20,000 more early educators in the sector and job vacancies have decreased by over 30 per cent. At Australia's largest childcare provider, Goodstart Early Learning, the use of agency staff decreased by 69 per cent in the first year of the program.
There are a number of Goodstart centres in my electorate of Blair, and it's great to get around and visit a number of these. I visited centres everywhere from Collingwood Park to Brassall and Lowood in recent months. For example, I dropped into Goodstart Early Learning during Early Learning Matters Week last month to speak to the staff and read books to the children.
It was great to see the kids playing, learning, thriving and being supported by these dedicated early educators. I heard from educators about the difference our pay rise is making. They tell me it's helping them stay in the jobs they love, and it's also providing certainty and stability for the kids they care for.
In that way, it's helping to build and retain the stable, dedicated workforce that these children deserve. Importantly, the funding will continue to be tied to commitment from services receiving the payment to limit fee increases for parents, and we're making sure that workers can be paid fairly without the cost being passed on to families. In fact, since we announced the pay rise, fees at centres receiving the payment have grown at about half the rate of those that don't.
Going forward, the average family will save about $1,500 over the next couple of years, and this is really important in my electorate, which is one of the fastest-growing and youngest regions in the country. It's where many people come to buy their first homes and start their families, and that's a welcome part of our community. These savings will make a big difference when it comes to helping with the cost of living.
We've not only done that. Over the last year, working with the states and territories, we've done a lot to strengthen safety in early education and care. We put in place a law that requires early childhood education and care services to meet the national safety standards as a condition of payment.
As the previous speaker said, over 95 per cent of early learning centres are meeting the safety standard, more than ever. We want that number to be even higher—to reach 100 per cent. From July 2027, if services don't meet the National Quality Standard when it comes to safety, their funding will be cut or suspended.
This will help to make sure safety and quality in early education, which is what I think our country needs, what parents expect and what our kids deserve. It means that, by law, if you want a pay rise, you need to meet the national safety standards. We need to make sure that we pass this legislation by the end of the September sitting period to ensure that there are sufficient funds in the special account to continue funding higher wages through the worker retention payment, so we call on the parliament to do the right thing.
I'll be really interested to see how the Liberal and National Party members vote in relation to this bill. This bill and the policy were subject to extensive consultation. Key early education stakeholders, including providers, educators, unions and advocacy groups, have all been extensively engaged on the worker retention payment grant program.
Peak bodies, providers and parent representative groups are advocating for stronger wage funding to be extended, and they are very supportive of the government's commitment. I might add that stakeholders are also supportive of the new quality and safety conditions. I said before that this wage rise is part of our plan to build a higher quality, more affordable system in terms of early education.
That's why I was very proud, back in April, that the Minister for Early Childhood Education, along with the Queensland minister for education, announced $9 million to deliver an early learning service in Rosewood, a country town in my electorate, to improve access to quality early education in this very fast growing region. The new service will be built at Rosewood State School to help local families avoid the dreaded double-drop-off in the morning and help children smoothly transition to school.
This $9 million investment will mean more families in the local area will be able to access early learning close to home, and more children can start school ready to go and ready to learn. The new centre is expected to be completed by the end of 2028 and will support the creation of 75 early childhood education and care places. This is part of a joint federal and state government partnership to deliver five new and expanded not-for-profit early learning centres across outer suburban and regional Queensland.
It's part of our commitment of $44.9 million, through the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund, to build new childhood education and care services not just at Rosewood but in other locations around the state. The $1 billion Building Early Education Fund provides capital funding to build or expand early learning services in areas of need, including regional and outer suburban communities like mine, helping families access quality early learning close to home.
That will make a big difference in Rosewood. These investments will support workforce participation and strengthen regional communities and growing country towns like Rosewood to help more children get a better start in life. In addition, the Queensland government will provide funding in these services to expand their free kindy program—a legacy of the former state Labor government—which is delivering improved access in regional communities and outer suburbs.
This commitment in my electorate builds on our strong record of delivery. Our three-day guarantee means that every child who needs it can access three days of subsidised early learning a week, no matter where they come from or what their parents do. As I referred to before, we've introduced the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund to build and expand early learning services.
This is also helping deliver places for families in my fast-growing region. We believe strongly that where you grow up shouldn't determine where you can access early education. It's quite literally an important building block of our plan for universal early childhood education.
These initiatives build on Labor's cheaper child care policy from our first term in government, which has already helped around 9,000 families in my electorate save thousands of dollars on childcare fees to help with the cost of living. This has been a real game changer for families in my community. I want to thank the Minister for Education for bringing forward this important legislation and for doing good work to deliver on Labor's early education and broader education agenda.
Again, I want to thank the Minister for Early Childhood Education for her passion and commitment to our early education and to improving access to quality early learning across the country, including in my community, and for visiting not just Collingwood Park but also Rosewood, where we made that announcement. The bill confirms the government's commitments to supporting higher wages in a historically undervalued, female dominated care sector.
The measure supports cost-of-living relief for families, limiting fee increases in early learning centres as a condition of grant funding. It complements a range of action the government is taking to strengthen safety and quality in early childhood education and care. At the end of the day, helping our kids grow and learn is one of the most important jobs in the country, and that's why we're giving childcare workers a 15 per cent pay rise.
It means that since 2024 a typical full-time educator has been taking home $255 more per week. That's a big help for any family. We're making sure those centres can't pass on those costs, so fees will stay down for families, because every child deserves the best start and every worker deserves fair pay and good conditions.
It's all part of our plan to build a higher quality and more affordable system so all children can access the benefits of early learning. I commend the bill to the House.