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

Ms WITTY (Melbourne) (18:53): Every parent wants their child to have the best possible start in life. That begins well before a child walks through the gates of primary school. It begins in our early learning centres, kindergartens and childcare services.

It begins with the educators who spend their days helping children learn, grow, build confidence and discover the world around them. Every day, early childhood educators do work that shapes lives. They help children learn to communicate.

They help children make friends. They help children feel safe. They help children develop skills that they will carry with them into the schoolyard and beyond.

For many families, they become trusted partners during the most important years of a child's life. That is why the Albanese Labor government continues to make early childhood education and care a priority. We have worked to make child care more affordable.

We have expanded supports for families. We have increased access to early learning, and we have recognised something educators have known for years. If you want a strong early childhood education system, you need a strong early childhood education workforce.

We cannot expect educators to stay in the profession if they cannot afford to live. We cannot build quality services if centres cannot attract and retain staff, and we cannot say we value early childhood educators while asking them to accept wages that do not reflect the importance of the work they do. Not long ago, I heard the story of an educator from Melbourne.

She shared her experience through an Australian Services Union campaign. She spoke about the children she works with every day, the joy she gets from watching them learn and grow, and the families she has supported over the years. But she also spoke about something nobody working in the profession should have to worry about.

She spoke about rent. She said that the pay rises delivered through the Albanese Labor government's worker retention payment were the difference between paying her rent or facing homelessness and the difference between staying in the profession she loved or being forced to leave. Think about that for a moment.

Someone trusted with educating and caring for young children was worried she might not be able to keep a roof over her own head. Her story is not unique. For too long, low wages pushed skilled educators out of the sector.

People stayed because they loved the work. They stayed because they cared deeply about children. But love for a profession does not pay the rent.

Commitment does not cover rising grocery bills. Goodwill cannot carry an entire system forever. For years, workforce shortages became a growing problem across the sector.

Services struggled to recruit, experienced educators left for better paid work elsewhere and vacancies grew. Some centres delayed expansion plans, others limited enrolments or closed rooms. Families found it harder to access the care they needed.

At the time, many educators found themselves carrying heavier workloads. The Australian Services Union heard this directly from members working in council operated early learning services across Melbourne. Members described how staff shortages and high turnover created enormous pressure inside centres.

As services struggled to fill positions, more and more work fell back onto the already stretched permanent educators. Workers described a system that was becoming increasingly impossible. They described experienced staff leaving because they could not afford to stay.

They described the loss of consistency that followed. Children would form relationships with trusted educators only to see them leave. Families would build relationships with staff only to find those staff moving on.

Everyone could see that something needed to change, because workforce stability is not just a workplace issue. It's a quality issue. It's a safety issue.

But, most importantly, it is a children's welfare issue. Children benefit from stable relationships. They benefit from familiar educators who know them well.

They benefit when centres can retain experienced staff. That is why the Albanese Labor government acted. In August 2024, the government announced funding for a 15 per cent wage increase through the worker retention payment.

It was recognition that workforce shortages would never be solved unless we addressed the reasons workers were leaving. One of the biggest reasons was pay. Early childhood education was treated as essential work but not paid like essential work.

This is a workforce made up overwhelmingly of women. It is a workforce that has historically been undervalued. Labor took a different view.

We recognised that if we want a world-class early learning system educators deserve fair wages, and the results speak for themselves. Since the worker retention payment was announced, there are around 20,000 more early childhood educators and care workers in the sector. That is about an eight per cent increase in the workforce.

Job vacancies have fallen by almost 31 per cent. The proportion of services operating with staffing waivers has fallen from 8.9 per cent to 4.3 per cent. Those are not just numbers on a page.

Those numbers represent educators staying in the profession. They represent services retaining experienced staff. They represent children benefiting from greater stability and consistency.

They represent a workforce becoming stronger. The reforms have also helped families. Importantly, services receiving the payments are required to limit fee increases.

As a result, fees at participating services have increased at around half the rate of those at services that have not signed up. That means the policy is helping educators while also helping families manage cost-of-living pressures. Families should not have to choose between quality child care and balancing the household budget.

This government believes we can support workers and support families at the same time. In my electorate of Melbourne, we can already see the difference. Since the introduction of the worker retention payment, 64 childcare services across the electorate have received support.

At least 1,100 early childhood educators have benefited. That means experienced educators remaining in the workforce, it means more stability for children, and it means greater certainty for families who rely on early learning services every day. The legislation before the House, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026, builds on that success.

It delivers on the Albanese government's commitment to extend wage funding for another two years. It provides an additional $3.6 billion through the special account that extends the legislation to allow those payments to continue. It also expands eligibility so employees in all CCS approved services can benefit from the payment.

This is about locking in the gains that have already been achieved. It's about giving educators confidence that support will continue. It's about giving them certainty as they plan for the future.

And it's about ensuring families continue to benefit from a stronger and more stable system. When combined with increases to the minimum wage, these changes mean that a typical full-time educator will receive around $255 more per week than they did in December 2024. An early childhood teacher will receive around $410 more per week.

That is real money—money that helps people pay their rent; money that helps cover household bills; money that gives workers greater security; and money that helps people remain in the profession they love. The funding extension will also save the average family around $1,500 over the next two years. Again, this demonstrates that good outcomes for educators and good outcomes for families go together.

The legislation also introduced an important new focus on safety. From July 2027, services receiving funding may have their payments reduced or suspended if they fail to meet key children's health and safety requirements under the national quality standard. Around 95 per cent of services already meet this standard.

That is encouraging. But, when it comes to children's safety, we must always aim higher. Families deserve confidence that services receiving taxpayer funding are meeting high standards of care.

Children deserve safe environments, and public funding should reinforce those expectations. Importantly, fair wages also contribute to better quality and safety. Stable teams create safer environments.

Experienced educators know the children in their care. They know their health needs. They know their routines.

They notice when something is wrong. When staff turnover falls, these relationships become stronger. That is good for children, families and educators alike.

These reforms do not stand alone. They are part of a broader Labor vision for children and families—a vision that recognises that support should be available at every stage of life. That is why we have expanded paid parental leave.

That is why we have made child care more affordable. That is why we have invested in women's health. That is why we are strengthening Medicare.

And that is why we have delivered Medicare urgent care clinics across the country. All of these policies are connected. A family welcoming a new baby benefits from paid parental leave.

As their child grows, they benefit from affordable early learning. When they need health care, they benefit from a stronger Medicare system. When women seek health care, they benefit from expanded investment in women's health.

This is about building systems that support families throughout their lives, and early childhood education is a central part of that picture because, when child care works, families have more choices. Parents can participate in work and study, children receive the benefits of high-quality early learning and communities become stronger. For Labor, early childhood education has always been the starting block in life for our youngest.

It is an investment in children, it is an investment in families and it is an investment in Australia's future. Before I finish, I want to return to the educator whose story first appeared in the ASU's strong and committed campaign for fair wages for early educators, the woman who said these pay rises were the difference between paying her rent and facing homelessness.

She was not asking for special treatment; she was asking for the dignity that comes with fair pay for important work. She wanted to continue helping children learn. She wanted to continue supporting families.

She wanted to continue being part of a profession she loved. For too long, workers like her carried an early learning system that depended on their goodwill. This government chose to do more than simply thank them.

We chose to act. We listened to educators, we listened to providers and we backed those words with funding, because if we believe children deserve the best start in life—and we do—then we must also believe the people helping deliver them that start deserve fair pay. Labor believes every child deserves the best start in life.

So do I. That benefit sits behind all investments in early learning. It sits behind cheaper child care.

It sits behind paid parental leave. It sits behind stronger Medicare, urgent care clinics and our investment in women's health. And it sits behind this legislation because, when a child is thriving, families are stronger; when families are stronger, communities are stronger; and, when we invest in people who educate and care for our young Australians, we invest in the future of our country.

I commend this bill to the House.