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

Ms CHESTERS (Bendigo) (10:19): I'm very pleased to rise to say a few words about the bill that is before us—the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026. In doing so, I want to acknowledge the previous speaker, the member for Riverina, and the 180 that his side has done on this issue.

It is good to see, and I hope the spirit in which they come to talk about early childhood education continues. I do acknowledge that we do have a challenge with access in the regions, including in parts of my own electorate. We have been working hard at finding local solutions.

In the town of Heathcote, where we had a childcare challenge, it was the local church, the Anglican Church, that put forward a property. They worked with our local mine in the area and Heathcote Health to put together a way in which they could offer affordable, quality child care to the people of Heathcote so that the workers at the mine and their healthcare workers didn't have to travel into Bendigo to access child care.

It's also where we run the after-school care program in Heathcote. The buses pick the kids up from school and bring them to the childcare centre which becomes the after-school care. It's a model that works for Heathcote.

I use it as an example because it may not be a model that works in every regional town, but it does require local solutions, the willingness of people to come together and the backing of a system that can support educators in that area. The reason why I say that is I've pitched to the minister—and I know the work is being done—other possible solutions to help ensure that young kids in our regions have access to early childhood education.

It is our side that is coming up with these ideas and models. How do we help ensure that all children in Australia can have access to quality early childhood education? I say that in all seriousness, and I hope that the opposition have seen the light of day on the need and the importance of early childhood education.

It's not just babysitting and taking care of the kids while mum and dad return to work. In their time, when they were in government, including when the member for Riverina was the Deputy Prime Minister, there was not one but two national strikes by early childhood educators—walking off the job to say: 'We are losing too many educators. They are being paid too low.

We cannot cope with the workloads. Our sector is in crisis.' That was just in the time that the member for Riverina was the Deputy Prime Minister. But, in the whole time that the Liberals and National parties were in government, there were multiple strikes.

Educators were saying that the sector was in crisis. But back then they had a very different view of early childhood education. I'm pleased to see they've done a 180 on this issue, and I hope their position remains the same because we do need to work together to ensure that this change that we are talking about today is locked in and ongoing.

Forevermore, our educators will be paid the justice that they deserve in their pay. Every day, early childhood educators are helping young children to learn and grow and be ready for school. Yes, there is the benefit to parents and grandparents that they can return to work or enjoy their retirement.

But, equally and more importantly, it is critical for our young minds that they have this opportunity to start engaging in education early. It is one of the most important jobs in our country. It ensures, and we need to ensure, that these educators, teachers and carers are paid fairly for the work that they do.

We know the result if we don't. Educators over the last two decades before this bill came before us, before the election of an Albanese Labor government, were leaving the sector in droves. This was not because they didn't love the job, not because they didn't understand the importance of the job and not because they didn't have the qualifications—they are one of the most highly qualified sectors that we have in our country—but because they couldn't afford to pay the bills.

Time and time again, I heard from qualified educators who had studied from their cert IIIs through to their diplomas say, 'I can make more money packing shelves at Woolies.' That was the lived reality. The fact that women—over 95 per cent of the sector are women—workers were saying that they were effectively being subsidised by their partner's wages because they didn't earn more than just a little bit more than minimum wage is why this bill is so important.

It continues to lock in the 15 per cent wage increase that was delivered by this government in partnership with the sector and with the unions to ensure that early childhood education staff receive the pay that they deserve. Workforce retention has stabilised as a result of lifting the pay, and quality and safety standards in early childhood education have improved, enabling more children and more educators to have the consistent relationships required and needed to ensure that young children have the best start.

Since we introduced the worker retention payment, which was announced in 2024, there have been around 20,000 more ECEC workers. That's about an eight per cent increase. Job vacancies in the sector have decreased by almost 31 per cent.

Rooms that were closed because of lack of staff are opening, allowing waiting lists to reduce. And the percentage of services that are operating without staff waivers has fallen to 4.3 per cent. I'll just remind the House what we mean by these waivers.

If you don't have enough qualified staff at the ratio that you need, you can apply to the department for a waiver if you can prove that you've got people in the centre working towards earning that qualification. By stabilising the sector and by investing in the wages, we are attracting people with the skills back. They didn't leave because they didn't love the job.

They left because the pay was too low and they couldn't afford to pay their bills. And that's what we've turned around. We are seeing the outcomes in our children.

In primary schools, prep/foundation teachers are reporting that the kids are ready to learn. In the post-COVID period, we're seeing a real change in the classroom, and it's been attributed to that consistency that kids are receiving in early childhood education. Parents are more relaxed because they know that the educators that their children have are likely to be with them throughout their early learning experience.

I'm in the last six months of the early learning experience. My young son, Charlie, will finish his kinder years at Annie Galvin in Bendigo and will start school next year. For my family, it's been a six-year journey.

All of the educators in my children's lives have been extraordinary, from the ones here at Parliament House to the educators at Annie Galvin, and there will be a few tears on those last days—happy tears because that chapter in our lives is ending. But it's tears that lots of families have because these educators and teachers have been with them for many years through the experiences and the opportunities.

And there's joy on these teachers' faces when they see young children graduate from their service, from their care, and start primary school. It's a moment that many families remember fondly because of the experience that they've had and the profound influence that these teachers, carers and educators have had. I want to acknowledge many of the amazing educators at Annie Galvin.

They, too, will receive this retention payment. There are people like Bernie. When my son, Charlie, was asked what he wants for Christmas, he said he wants Bernie, his educator, because she gives him big hugs and reads him books.

Unfortunately, Santa couldn't deliver Bernie, but Charlie does get to see her every day that she's at Annie Galvin. There's the fact that they have science programs because the children there love science, and there's the fact that they celebrate Book Week every day because children come on different days. The children are ready for school, they're ready to learn and they have a love for learning.

That's what our early childhood educators do. I know, going forward, that the educators not just at Annie Galvin and here at Parliament House but at every early learning centre around the country will all now have access to this payment. All services that sign on, that agree to keep fees low for parents and agree to our new safety standards, will have the ability to access this account to help pay our educators what they're worth.

When combined with our government support for minimum wages, this payment means an extra $255 per week for a typical full-time educator and more than $410 per week for early childhood education teachers. This is the difference that we are making. When we talk about it in terms of our economy, this measure alone is one of the reasons we are closing the gender pay gap.

It is the investment that our government has made in early childhood education. And it is the investment that our government has made in aged care that is really turning around the gender pay gap on a much broader scale. These changes are helping to stabilise the sector and, more importantly, ensure that our educators are paid for the work that they do.

This bill also introduces a new obligation and conditioning through the wage justice special account that builds upon our government's commitment to strengthen quality and safety. If you do not meet the standard, your service will have funding cut or suspended. That is how committed we are to reforming the sector to make sure that we are always putting the safety of children and staff first.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge all the activists in the movement that got us to where we are today. The many women and educators and the campaigners in the Big Steps campaign in the United Workers Union. This is a campaign that has been going on for decades, and this bill that's before us needs to acknowledge that this didn't just start with our government.

It started a long time ago when educators said, 'We're more than just babysitters.' They've campaigned tirelessly to make sure that the workers in their sector are recognised for what they do—educate and care for our youngest Australians to ensure that they have the best start in education. I also want to acknowledge the many amazing activists and delegates in my electorate who've been part of this campaign over the years.

I can't go past Roe from the Golden Square Goodstart. She has long since retired, but one of her happiest moments and memories was seeing this bill first adopted by this parliament back in 2024, knowing that part of her legacy was to see the current educators and future educators paid what they're worth. I acknowledge Lisa at the centre just down the road from me—another Goodstart centre, Bendigo.

She's the director there. She has been working in the sector for more than 30 years, ensuring that all of the kids in her care have the best start in life. She talked of the opportunity that this has given the educators in her centre—women being able to buy their own home in their own right because they now have a payslip that means the banks say, yes, we can give you a loan; and families can put a little bit away and start planning for that holiday that they've never been able to take because one of the wages in the house was minimum wage and didn't reflect the work that they do.

I also acknowledge Jenny's Early Learning Centre, who were part of this along with their network of amazing centres and educators. They've got a unique system where they encourage people who might want a career in early childhood education to come on as a trainee, and they support them the whole way through their education journey. Goodstart, Jenny's Early Learning Centre and even the G8s and the for-profits in my area—those educators, regardless of who their employers are, are committed to the education and care of our youngest.

Finally, I acknowledge the extraordinary local community services that we have—the community and not-for-profit sectors, and our council-run centres. I do acknowledge there's a little bit of work to do with the City of Greater Bendigo to make sure that we can finalise the payments and that those educators also get the wage justice that they deserve, but it will happen, because it has to happen.

That's what this bill is all about. It is about wage justice. Everything is in the title: 'wage justice for early childhood education and care workers', ensuring that any child in early childhood education gets the care and the education that they need, and that the people delivering that are paid what they're worth.

This bill is recognising that they have skills, they have opportunity and that they get to continue to do the job that they love with the pay that they deserve. Not every family will choose early childhood education, and that's their choice, but if they do, we need to ensure that we as a government are supporting the sector. The sector is 95 per cent women, delivering and giving opportunity to our youngest Australians to ensure that they're ready for school and that they're being cared for and educated while their parents are working.

I commend the bill to the House.