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

Senator WALSH (Victoria—Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth) (18:46): We are investing $3.6 billion in providers that would like to pay their workers higher wages, providers who would like to keep fees down for families and providers who value safety in early education and care. As I said, there is a pool of employees across the country who are eligible for the payment.

That pool, according to Jobs and Skills Australia, is 274,000 workers in early education and care. That includes preschool. Ultimately, it's a decision for providers whether they would like to sign up for the worker retention payment which over the last period of time, since the pay rise was announced in August 2024, has helped us stabilise the workforce.

It's provided a $255-a-week pay rise, and it's resulted in a workforce that can stay in the sector. We have seen job vacancies in the sector decline by 30 per cent at the same time as the workforce itself has grown. Having those stable relationships between educators and children is the foundation of quality early childhood education and care in this country.

That is exactly what we are delivering with this legislation.