QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WALSH (Victoria—Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth) (14:57): Thank you, Senator Grogan, for your question on National TAFE Day. Free TAFE changes lives, free TAFE brings opportunity and free TAFE is building the quality early learning workforce that Australian children deserve. When we came to office, the early learning workforce was in crisis.

Experienced educators were leaving the sector in droves. Services couldn't find the qualified staff they needed, and children were losing the stable, consistent relationships that quality early learning depends on. We have changed that.

First, we've built the pathway in, with free TAFE delivering over 68,000 early learning enrolments. The certificate III in early education is Australia's second-most-popular free TAFE course. This helps people like Hannah.

Hannah is completing her cert III and doing her placement at the same service she attended as a child. She told me that, because she doesn't have to worry about course fees, she can really focus on her studies. That is the pathway in.

And we've given educators the ability to stay in the jobs they love, with our historic 15 per cent pay rise. It means an extra $255 a week for the typical educator, and it is working. More than 20,000 additional educators have joined the sector since the pay rise was first announced.

Job vacancies are down by a third, and staffing waivers have almost halved. When experienced educators stay, it is good for children. It means continuity for children, it means reliable early learning for families and it means services can plan for the future.

Next week, the Senate has the opportunity to lock in our pay rise so we can continue this work of training more educators, paying them fairly and giving more Australian children a great start in life. The PRESIDENT: Senator Grogan, first supplementary?