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

Ms FERNANDO (Holt) (18:14): On 17 June, I was incredibly proud to welcome the Prime Minister, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Early Childhood Education to Goodstart Early Learning in Hampton Park, which is right in the heart of my electorate, to announce that the Albanese Labor government is delivering a further $3.6 billion over two years to secure the historic 15 per cent pay rise for early childhood educators.

It was fitting that such a significant national announcement was made in Holt because our community shows exactly why this investment matters so deeply. Holt is one of the youngest and fastest growing electorates in the country. Almost one in four people in our community is under the age of 14.

Across Clyde, Clyde North, Cranbourne, Hampton Park, Narre South and Tooradin, we see the Australian dream in motion. New homes are going up, and young families are putting their roots down. But those parents are also juggling work, school drop-offs, bills and everything else life throws at them.

For these families, reliable and affordable early learning is not a luxury; it is absolutely essential. More than 1,600 early educators call Holt home. They are the backbone of our local communities.

They support thousands of local children and by extension thousands of local families, which allows parents to stay in the workforce and contribute to our national economy. I want every single one of those 1,600 educators to know that this government sees your work. We are backing you not just with warm words but with real structural and lasting reform.

The Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026 delivers on the commitment we made that morning in Hampton Park. It is built on three simple, non-negotiable pillars: delivering fair pay for our educators, keeping fee increases down for families and making early learning safer for every single child.

As a new mum and a working mum, this is deeply personal to me. Like parents across Australia, I know what it means to place your child in someone else's care. You are trusting that person with the most precious part of your life.

You want your child to be safe and happy. You want them to learn, make friends and grow in confidence. That profound trust is carried by our early childhood educators every single day.

They welcome a nervous child in the morning. They comfort them when they miss their mum or dad. They help them to learn, share, speak up, solve problems and believe in themselves.

This is not babysitting; it is early education. It is highly skilled, demanding and incredibly important work. Early learning is where confidence begins, language grows, curiosity is encouraged and the foundations for a lifetime are laid.

Our economy could not function without these educators, and they deserve to be paid fairly. Yet for far too long they have not been. This is a workforce made up overwhelmingly by women, and for too long their care, skill and expertise were profoundly undervalued.

Love for the job does not pay the rent. Dedication does not cover the grocery bill. And a thankyou, however sincere it is, is not a substitute for a fair wage.

That is why the Albanese Labor government funded a 15 per cent wage increase through the worker retention payment. When the worker retention payment was announced in August 2024, the sector had a serious staffing problem. Incredible, passionate and highly trained educators were leaving jobs they loved.

They could walk into an entry level retail or administrative job and earn significantly more while carrying only a fraction of the emotional and physical responsibility. Because of this, services could not find enough staff and centres were forced to delay expansion plans and cap enrolments. What does a staff shortage mean in real life?

It can mean a room does not open, a child loses its place, a parent cannot take a shift or return to work, or a family is left scrambling with fewer choices and longer waitlists. The pay rise has worked and the results speak for themselves. Let me tell you what that looks like on the ground.

Twenty thousand more workers have joined the sector. Job vacancies have fallen by almost 31 per cent. For a parent in Holt those statistics are not simply numbers on a page.

They mean that, when parents walk into their local centre, they can see familiar faces. They mean families are less likely to receive a stressed phone call at 6.30 in the morning telling them that a room cannot open because the centre is short-staffed. That workforce stability is the bedrock of quality and safety.

Children do best when they have stable relationships. A familiar educator knows when a child needs a little more time at drop-off. They know that child's routines and personality and they're more likely to notice when something changes.

Keeping good educators is good for learning, it is good for quality and it is good for safety. But, as we correct this historic wage injustice, we also have made a very clear and deliberate choice. Educators absolutely deserve better pay, but families should not be handed the bill.

By tying government funding to strict limits on fee increases, we are protecting household budgets. This extension is expected to save the average family around $1,500 over the next two years. At a time when household budgets are incredibly tight, that is meaningful support.

Together with minimum wage increases backed by this government, a typical full-time educator will be around $255 a week better off than they were in December 2024. An early childhood teacher will be around $410 a week better off. That can be the difference between an experienced educator staying in the sector and that person deciding they simply cannot afford to keep doing the work they love.

Today, more than 215,000 educators across 11,600 centres are benefiting from this payment, including around 1,200 educators in my electorate of Holt. This bill opens the door wider. For the first time, workers across every type of childcare subsidy approved service can benefit if their service meets the grant rules.

That includes family day care and in-home care. That matters in Holt. Not every family works from nine to five.

A nurse starting an early shift, a tradie leaving home before sunrise and a parent whose child has additional needs may require a different kind of care. Those families count too, and so do the educators who support them. The limit on fee increases will also continue, helping ensure that this historic pay rise does not come at the expense of families.

But this bill does something else that matters deeply to every parent. It strengthens the link between public funding and child safety. From July 2027, centres receiving this wage funding will be required to meet quality area 2 of the National Quality Standard.

That is the part of the standard dealing with children's health and safety. If a service does not meet that safety standard, its funding may be reduced or suspended. Equivalent conditions can apply to services, such as in-home care, that sit outside the National Quality Framework.

Around 95 per cent of services already meet quality area 2. The great majority are doing the right thing, but parents will rightly ask: what about the other five per cent? When it comes to the safety of children, near enough is not good enough.

The goal must be 'Every service, every child, every day'. Recent shocking allegations in this sector have shaken families and educators alike. The overwhelming majority of educators are good, decent and dedicated people.

They want strong rules, they want concerns acted on and they do not want the actions of a few to stain a profession built on care. This bill sends a clear message to providers: public money is not a blank cheque. If a service receives this funding, it must meet the safety standards that families have every right to expect.

This measure is one part of a much wider safety effort. The government is also working on a national early childhood worker register, mandatory child safety training, a ban on personal mobile phones in centres, more unannounced visits and a national CCTV trial. No single law on its own can keep every child safe.

Safety depends on stronger rules, proper checks, trained staff and quick action. It also depends on stable teams who know the children in their care and feel confident speaking up when something is not right. This is why fair pay and safety belong in the same bill.

Fair pay helps the service keep good people. Keeping good people builds experience, stability and trust. Strong funding conditions make providers answerable for the standard of care they deliver.

I would like to say thank you to the more than 1,600 early educators who live in Holt and to every educator across the country. Thank you for helping the next generation of Australians find their voice, build their confidence and take their very first steps into the wider world. You do not just support our children; you support entire families.

You hold our local communities together and you are helping to build the future of our country. I acknowledge the Minister for Education, the Hon. Jason Clare MP, and the Minister for Early Childhood Education, the Hon.

Jess Walsh, for their leadership in bringing forward this legislation and for their continued commitment to delivering wage justice for educators, easing cost-of-living pressures for Australian families and ensuring the highest safety standards for our children. This is what good Labor governments should do. They should listen to workers, ease pressure on families, lift standards and ensure that every public dollar serves the public good.

This bill backs our educators, it backs our families and, above all, it backs the future of Australia. I am so honoured to commend this bill to the House.