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

Mr BURNS (Macnamara) (13:00): I am extremely proud to speak on the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026 because, for a number of reasons, I understand the value, the expertise, the professionalism required and the benefits that we get from our outstanding early educators that are working right across the country.

In fact, I wouldn't be able to deliver this speech right now if it weren't for the early educators currently looking after my incredible eight-month-old daughter, who would otherwise be demanding my attention in a whole range of other ways. This morning, when I dropped her off, she was immediately greeted by professional and hardworking staff who are there to look after our most important people in our lives, our children.

I also understand the professionalism and the expertise required to be an early educator from my own experience. In university, I did relief teaching in a kindergarten in my own electorate. I used to come in at about 11 o'clock, and the educators would take their lunch breaks.

One after another, they would come in and out, and I would come in and do some support relief teaching. For the few hours I was inside that early education service, it was a full-energy experience. You have these amazing four-year-olds who want to play, learn and engage, and it was such a social and fun environment.

But it was also an environment where you would have to maintain an eye on the safety of the kids and whether one child was upset or by themselves. You're constantly on. You're constantly working.

You're constantly looking around. You're constantly engaged with what's in front of you. I only did a few hours a day, but when you finish you are absolutely exhausted.

I can only imagine what it would feel like to do that full time for each and every day. You're looking after, educating and supporting these young people. I have nothing but respect and admiration for our early education staff and the skills, expertise and professionalism required.

That is why our early educators deserve the pay increase that is built into this bill. I know and I see how hard they work. I know and I see how much goes into doing that job to the standard that they hold themselves to and the standard that we want for our kids.

There is no way that anyone should do that job without being paid accordingly. It is just too much to ask. I'm proud that, since coming into government, we have made this a priority.

Since coming into government, we have recognised that these workers deserve a pay increase. I'm proud that, in August 2024, we announced a $3.6 billion investment to deliver the 15 per cent wage increase for early childhood educators in the form of a workplace retention payment. That means that over 215,000 early educators and workers right across the country are now benefiting from this pay rise, including more than a thousand in my electorate of Macnamara.

In June this year, the Prime Minister announced that we would extend this pay rise for another two years, and that is exactly what the bill before the House does. I also want to pay tribute to the staff and the union that work so hard to ensure that the council early educator workers receive this payment. As we were introducing it and implementing it, there was a lot of work that had to be done to ensure the services and the council were able to work through the requirements, but it was thanks to joint efforts that that is now happening in the City of Port Phillip, and the educators and the families deserve nothing less.

It is not surprising that, when you pay people properly, you attract good people and you attract more people to the work. What we've seen is that there has been around an eight per cent increase in the number of early childhood education workers across the country, that job vacancies have gone down by almost a third and that the percentage of services operating with a staffing waiver has also fallen from 8.9 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

What these numbers tell us is that, when you increase the wages of staff, people want to work there, job vacancies go down and services don't have to put in conditions that mean you have people who don't have the relevant qualifications filling in roles that they otherwise wouldn't have to. That's exactly what we want, because we know how much work and how much expertise is required to do these roles.

That's why we want people who have the qualifications and the experience to be able to do these roles. We want people to be able to work. We also know that, without this and without the system having these staff working across these centres, there just wouldn't be the places available for the children so that people can go back to work.

We know that there is still an imbalance in the time taken off work between mums and dads. We know that there is an imbalance in the breakdown between men and women among people who work in this sector. Not only is this an industry and a profession where women are still the majority, but also, when there aren't enough places, it's mums who carry the burden of home duties.

What we want to see is a more even spread. We want to see more dads and other men carrying an equal share not only of the work of this incredible sector but also of the work of being able to be at home. When you mix this in with our reforms on paid parental leave, the clear message we're sending to Australian dads, families and workers is that, if you work in this sector, we want you to earn a good wage, but also that it can't just be up to mum.

Personally, when I took time to have some parental leave so that my partner could go back to work, it was one of the most valuable and important decisions I've ever made. I did miss this place—kind of—for a couple of months, but what it did mean was that I was able to be at home and do all of the care requirements that were required so that my partner could work.

I think that, the more we have these conversations and the more we don't just allow industries like this to just continue to roll on, the better. These workers deserve a pay increase. We know the economic benefit of having these places, but I think also that the broader conversation around parenting and around dads playing an active role is such a healthy one for our country and one that I fully support.

I definitely make this recommendation to dads or future dads out there: if you're thinking about taking some time to go on parental leave, do it. You'll be a better father as a result, and it'll be good for your kids, and it'll be good for the family and for the country as well. One of the things that we all we all know as parents is that, when your child is at these incredible services right around the country, you want to have the confidence that these kids are safe.

For the vast majority of services and centres around the country, that has been the case. I know that every day, when I get to pick up my daughter and I hear about the day and the staff are engaging and kind and talk about the things that have happened, it means so much to parents. But we have also seen that there have been some absolutely shocking and unacceptable incidents which are devastating not only for families but actually for the vast majority of staff, who are doing the right thing and who are working hard.

They feel it too. This bill actually ensures that the National Quality Framework is updated to include some of those safety measures and to ensure that everyone can have more confidence in the way in which our early education sector is regulated and that the educators, who we support with a higher wage, can also have confidence that the very best of their industry is being represented and the very best of their work is being represented and know that we support them and thank them for their work and that those who have done the wrong thing don't reflect the vast majority of the workers.

There are some compliance components in this bill that are important. I know that, when parents look at what sorts of services they send their children to, the rating that ACECQA does and the standards that we have have been really good in terms of driving up standards across the country. I know that the services take great pride in being able to demonstrate the high quality of service that they provide.

Certainly, for those who do the wrong thing or who don't meet those standards, it becomes transparent, and it ends up lifting up the standard right across the sector, which is essential for valuing the work that our early education sector does. We want to see more services exceeding the standards of the national standards, and we want to see more workers helping to achieve those results, because they are celebrated right across the community.

Parents really search for it and want to know and want to have that confidence that that is the standard that these services are aiming for. One mention I do want to make in the few minutes that I have in parliament is around mandatory child safety training. This is something that I've been working on with colleagues for quite some time.

What this goes to is that, if you are coming into an early education service and you are a staff member, you have experience in recognising some of the key indicators of people who breach child safety standards. If you want to go and serve beer in a pub, you have to do your RSA, and that requires you doing a couple of hours of training that shows that you understood and you are willing to comply with the standards to ensure that there is safety in that workplace, but there is no such requirement for early education.

Obviously, the educators, as part of their official training, do get training as part of that, but there are staff members who can walk into an early education centre with less training than you need to pour a beer at the pub, which is pretty shocking. There is an organisation who's been at the forefront of reform in this area. It's called the Australian Childhood Foundation.

A friend of mine, who is an incredible advocate and who powerfully shares her own story, has been working with not only our government but especially the Victorian government. Her name is Emma, and she has been leading these reform calls, and they have just been awarded the official tender by the Victorian government to design and provide that training in Victoria.

It is the culmination of years of hard work, and I just want to give a shout-out to Emma, who deserves a huge amount of credit here. Her work will ensure that children are safer and that staff will be there and able to recognise the early signs of concern and be able to take steps to prevent it to ensure child safety standards are met. I just wanted to say to Emma well done.

You should be proud, and we are in your debt for your work in this area. Deputy Speaker Chesters, in a few hours, I'm going to go pick up my daughter, just as you've done in your time in this place, from the outstanding early educators that we've got here in Parliament House, but I know that, right across the country, there are people who dedicate their lives to ensuring all of the benefits that young person could have in some of the most formative years of their life in an environment which is social, safe, educative and also a place where parents can, with confidence, drop their kids off and go back to work and contribute to our economy.

We owe our early educators so much. It is the least we can do to pay them adequately. The pay increase that is built into this bill is something that I'm extremely proud of.

I want to say that, as someone who had just a taste of the work that they do, I'm in awe of the skill, the energy and the expertise required. They are outstanding professionals, they work hard and they help shape the future, and for that we're proud to pay them adequately and—more so—we're proud to say that we thank them for their work, we value it and we want to see more educators working for our country and for our kids.