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) (19:22): As I said, the department has published a framework for some of these matters, which may be of assistance to providers. Services not meeting the standard are advised to address any concerns as soon as possible and to contact their regulator to seek a reassessment by no later than 31 March 2027.

However, there will be transition provisions in place to ensure that funding continues for services trying to do the right thing, and I understand that this information has been published for providers, so I can confirm that services that request a reassessment before 31 March 2027 and are still awaiting a reassessment as at 1 July will continue to receive the funding until the reassessment is completed.

We want to assist services to meet the quality standard. Our preference, of course, is that they do meet the quality standard and that they do achieve eligibility for the extended worker retention payment. But the other side of that is that services that don't meet the quality standard and are not doing the right thing will not be eligible to receive the payment.