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

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Western Australia—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (13:28): I move my committee of the whole amendment: (1) Schedule 1, page 5 (after line 2), after item 7, insert: 7A Before subsection 11(4) (3B) The terms and conditions must not: (a) require the recipient to engage workers through a particular kind of workplace instrument; or (b) require the recipient to engage workers through a particular kind of industrial arrangement; or (c) otherwise relate to the manner in which workers are engaged (other than requiring that the engagement of workers be compliant with any relevant law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory).

I realise we only have a minute left. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that no worker working in the early education sector is in any way prevented from being able to receive the support, and I particularly think of family day-care workers and also those in-home care providers who are providing essential services for children, many of them in need. For many of them, it's the choice of the parent to have their child in that centre, yet many of those providers are not able to receive the support by way of the extra support provided by this bill.

I think it's a mistake that the government have not allowed for that to happen. They announced that they were going to be included, but, when you read the detail of this bill, you see that those providers are not included. I really wish that the government did include— Progress reported.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Polley ): We will now move to senators' two-minute statements.