Division Description Changes — Bills — Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024; Second Reading — 4th Nov 2024

Change	Division
representatives vote 2024-11-04#1 Edited by mackay staff on 2024-11-05 10:08:56	Title Bills — Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024; Second Reading Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024 - Second Reading - Criticism of Government Description ~~<p class="speaker">Kate Chaney</p>~~ <p>I am concerned about any injection of funds that could be inflationary at this time, when inflation is having a huge impact on cost of living, but childcare workers are some of the lowest paid workers in the country. In a budget of more than $600 billion, it seems reasonable that we should be able to find a few billion to pay women well and value our children's early education. I am concerned that there's no allocation of funds for this special account, despite the estimated cost of the grant program being $3.6 billion for the next few years. We'll have to wait for the annual appropriations bill to see how much money is put into this account, but the giving of grants is not dependent on funds being put into this account.</p> The majority voted against an [amendment](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr7247_amend_57377882-19e6-4df8-b761-42cf178d9220%22;rec=0) to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). This means the usual motion will remain as it is. ### Amendment text *> That all** words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:* > *> “whilst not declining to giv*e the bill a second reading, the House notes: > >> (1) the Government’s economic mismanagement and cost-of-living crisis has led to higher wage bills, and higher utility, rent and grocery bills for providers; >> *>> (2) the** bill will place further administrative burden on providers, particularly small and medium providers;* >> *>> (3) the bill will put fur*ther financial pressure on providers who will have to cover the majority of the on costs, cannot increase their fees and have to pay the wages upfront, whilst receiving reimbursement in arrears; >> *>> (4) the Government has done nothing to address child care deserts and thin markets around the country, and thi*s bill will not increase access for parents who currently have none; and >> *>> (5) the bill** is a one-off sugar hit, which will only increase inflation further contributing to current cost-of-living pressures”.* <p>It's possible that the payments have been set up through this special account as a way of making it harder for an alternative government to take the pay rise away from childcare workers if the government doesn't win next year's election. But setting this up without allocating funds does feel like kicking the can down the road.</p> <p>My last concern is in relation to the short-term timeframe. The bill is hazy about what happens after the first two years. The worker retention payment is considered an interim payment while the Fair Work Commission finalises its gender undervaluation review of priority awards and the government considers the recent ACCC and Productivity Commission reports on early childhood education and care. If the government wants to see long-term structural reform to pay feminised industries better wages and drive a long-term improvement in the quality of care, the government will need to come clean about how it would fund this in the long term. If this increase is not going to be paid through higher fees in the long term, we need to have an open discussion about the social and economic benefit of high-quality early childhood education and care. Without the support of the coalition, this may go the way of the similar Early Years Quality Fund, which was ended with Tony Abbott not supporting that program.</p> <p>Another concern is the broad discretionary powers created. The government can make grants and there isn't much guidance on the use of these powers in the legislation. I am hoping that these and other issues are addressed in the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee's report, which I believe came out today.</p> <p>Beyond the changes made in this bill, further reform is needed. There is some momentum towards creating universal access to quality early childhood education and care. This is obviously a big change and would require a pathway to get there, but it's the sort of bold thinking that has the potential to set us on a pathway to a better educated and are more fully productive population. I recognise that this would require nearly 50,000 early childhood education and care graduates a year by 2030, more than double recent graduating numbers. This will take time, but it seems to me to be the right direction.</p> <p>The other reform needed is in relation to the activity test. The activity test is based on an assumption that early childhood education and care is a benefit for parents, not for kids. Recognising the benefits for kids, especially from lower socioeconomic families, leads to the conclusion that reforming the activity test would have long-term benefits. I would like to see the activity test removed, relaxed or substantially reconfigured in line with recommendations from the Productivity Commission, the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, the ACCC, Thrive By Five and Early Childhood Australia.</p> <p>In conclusion, I support this bill as one step towards quality, accessible and affordable early childhood education and care. Early childhood education and care is important for kids and families. Like workers in many traditionally feminised industries, childcare workers are underpaid. We need to attract a quality workforce to educate and care for our kids, and paying them better is a good start. There are a few issues with this bill that I hope are addressed in the current Senate inquiry. In particular, the bill takes a short-term approach and doesn't allocate money to the special account being established, so it's kicking the can down the road on longer term reform and costs. The broad powers in the grant-making laws leave a lot to the government's discretion. So it's appropriate that the bill be reconsidered in a few years in light of a number of reviews currently underway.</p> <p>While you couldn't say that the bill will have no inflationary impact, increasing the pay for our lowest-earning women seems an appropriate decision. Having more women here in parliament means that we are starting to correct the long-term gender bias in how we value different types of jobs. Paying childcare workers better is a good step, but I urge the government and the opposition to be bold in thinking about universal childcare access as a step to a better educated population and greater workforce participation for women.</p> ~~<p class="speaker">Clare O'Neil</p>~~ <p>I want to thank the member for Curtin for her typically thoughtful discussion with regard to this bill, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, that is before the parliament. It's a really important one, Speaker. You and I are Labor people who got into parliament to try to fight inequality and make sure that the quality of life of people in our country isn't defined by their income or indeed by the family that they grew up in. I think when you looked at these matters of social justice and inequality a generation ago you probably would have looked at wage justice and these fundamental things that affect the lives of Australians as adults. But the more we understand about how the life cycle of poverty continues across generations the more obvious it is that the best time for us to focus on is those first thousand days in a child's life.</p> <p>We don't need any more evidence about this point. There is study after study here in Australia and overseas that show us that, if we intervene in the life of a child, we can radically reshape their trajectory just by making sure that they get off to the right start. That's got an element of health care. It's got an element of supporting parents who might be in a really disadvantaged situation. But probably the most important thing that we can do through politics and through this chamber is making sure that we provide really quality early learning to every single Australian child. They expect and deserve nothing less from this chamber and from this amazing country of ours than for us to be able to extend that generosity to young people by supporting them through those first thousand days.</p> <p>What we know about early learning in our country is that we're on a real journey here. We've had some periods of time where we've had Australian governments that have thought about this as merely child care, someone taking care of your kids while the families went to work. We as the Labor Party and a Labor government have been working over a number of decades now to really switch the mindset up here. This is not just about looking after children; this is about starting their journey of education in the most positive and powerful way while they take those first steps as really young children and babies.</p> <p>One of the things that really sticks in my mind in the work that I have done in this area is looking at the different ways in which children who grew up in really advantaged families and really disadvantaged families experience language. There are some studies that have been done overseas that show that there are literally 20 million fewer words heard by children who grew up in very low income and disadvantaged households versus children who grew up in different kinds of households. As Australians, we can't tolerate these things. We've got to intervene, and it is certainly the role of government to reach in and try to give every support and assistance to those children to make sure that they're standing on a platform of support of the Australian people.</p> <p>The bill before the parliament is about the workers who support these incredible young Australians to get off to the very best start. I'm sure I'm not alone here, but one of the most absolutely fantastic things that we get to do in our work as members of parliament is visit childcare centres where these young Aussies are getting taught by these incredible people, who are spending every day going to work and helping children form their first words and helping them learn through active participation. I'm so lucky to see my three children have had that opportunity. These workers are as good as gold, but for too long the Australian people and the Australian government have not been giving them the rewards that they deserve. We know that they are doing essential work to help build a great future for our country, yet they are being remunerated as though that work were not important, and that's not good enough.</p> <p>We are on a journey here of making sure those workers in our economy—our aged-care workers, our childcare workers and our disability workers—are getting properly recognised for the support that they give to other Australians. I've got the government whip just behind me here, who has spent her life in education. Don't get her started on the value of educators! I really want to emphasise for the parliament and for people listening at home that Labor understands how difficult and important this work is. If you're a parent of young children, as I am, you know that it is no mean feat to go to work every day and try to educate a whole classroom of three- or four-year-olds, but this is what these people do every day, and they deserve to be properly remunerated. That is what this bill is about.</p> <p>I want to mention some of the gender issues that lie at the heart of this. It's not something that the parliament is always comfortable talking about, but we've got to address this. We have one of the most gendered workforces in the entire world in our beautiful country of Australia. A lot of people wouldn't believe that, but, if you look at a type of work like construction, you'll find that somewhere around nine in 10 workers in parts of that industry are male. If you look at something like childcare workers, you'll find that almost nine in 10 of those workers are female. This is really important because what we see is that those parts of our economy where women are really dominant tend to be the most underpaid parts of the economy. Of course, we all understand why that is. Historically, women's work has not been sufficiently valued. For a long time, generations of people have talked about that work as though women were going to work out of the goodness of their hearts. That's not respectful, and it's not right, and that's why our government is trying to correct it.</p> <p>I'll make a final point. Over the last couple of days, the Prime Minister made a series of outstanding announcements about the other end of the education spectrum in making sure that young people who make the fantastic choice—a choice we want them to make—to go on to further study aren't penalised in the way that they are today, and that, for those fantastic young people who want to go into trades, we want to support you. The announcement to make 100,000 fee-free TAFE places available every single year will have transformative effects on our economy and on the lives of all of those young people who take that opportunity.</p> <p>I want the parliament to know that it is not about picking out one year or one part of our education system; it's about saying that, as a government, we have a special role in helping our youngest Aussies get the right start in life, supporting them all the way through that arch and through to their TAFE training and their university education. As a government, we have an amazing offering on education. It's something that I'm very proud of as a Labor Party member and a member of this House for a long time now.</p> ~~<p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>~~

~~Kate Chaney~~
I am concerned about any injection of funds that could be inflationary at this time, when inflation is having a huge impact on cost of living, but childcare workers are some of the lowest paid workers in the country. In a budget of more than $600 billion, it seems reasonable that we should be able to find a few billion to pay women well and value our children's early education. I am concerned that there's no allocation of funds for this special account, despite the estimated cost of the grant program being $3.6 billion for the next few years. We'll have to wait for the annual appropriations bill to see how much money is put into this account, but the giving of grants is not dependent on funds being put into this account.
The majority voted against an [amendment](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr7247_amend_57377882-19e6-4df8-b761-42cf178d9220%22;rec=0) to the usual second reading motion, which is "*that the bill be read a second time*" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). This means the usual motion will remain as it is.
### Amendment text
> *That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:*
>
> *“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes:*
>
>> *(1) the Government’s economic mismanagement and cost-of-living crisis has led to higher wage bills, and higher utility, rent and grocery bills for providers;*
>>
>> *(2) the bill will place further administrative burden on providers, particularly small and medium providers;*
>>
>> *(3) the bill will put further financial pressure on providers who will have to cover the majority of the on costs, cannot increase their fees and have to pay the wages upfront, whilst receiving reimbursement in arrears;*
>>
>> *(4) the Government has done nothing to address child care deserts and thin markets around the country, and this bill will not increase access for parents who currently have none; and*
>>
>> *(5) the bill is a one-off sugar hit, which will only increase inflation further contributing to current cost-of-living pressures”.*
It's possible that the payments have been set up through this special account as a way of making it harder for an alternative government to take the pay rise away from childcare workers if the government doesn't win next year's election. But setting this up without allocating funds does feel like kicking the can down the road.
My last concern is in relation to the short-term timeframe. The bill is hazy about what happens after the first two years. The worker retention payment is considered an interim payment while the Fair Work Commission finalises its gender undervaluation review of priority awards and the government considers the recent ACCC and Productivity Commission reports on early childhood education and care. If the government wants to see long-term structural reform to pay feminised industries better wages and drive a long-term improvement in the quality of care, the government will need to come clean about how it would fund this in the long term. If this increase is not going to be paid through higher fees in the long term, we need to have an open discussion about the social and economic benefit of high-quality early childhood education and care. Without the support of the coalition, this may go the way of the similar Early Years Quality Fund, which was ended with Tony Abbott not supporting that program.
Another concern is the broad discretionary powers created. The government can make grants and there isn't much guidance on the use of these powers in the legislation. I am hoping that these and other issues are addressed in the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee's report, which I believe came out today.
Beyond the changes made in this bill, further reform is needed. There is some momentum towards creating universal access to quality early childhood education and care. This is obviously a big change and would require a pathway to get there, but it's the sort of bold thinking that has the potential to set us on a pathway to a better educated and are more fully productive population. I recognise that this would require nearly 50,000 early childhood education and care graduates a year by 2030, more than double recent graduating numbers. This will take time, but it seems to me to be the right direction.
The other reform needed is in relation to the activity test. The activity test is based on an assumption that early childhood education and care is a benefit for parents, not for kids. Recognising the benefits for kids, especially from lower socioeconomic families, leads to the conclusion that reforming the activity test would have long-term benefits. I would like to see the activity test removed, relaxed or substantially reconfigured in line with recommendations from the Productivity Commission, the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, the ACCC, Thrive By Five and Early Childhood Australia.
In conclusion, I support this bill as one step towards quality, accessible and affordable early childhood education and care. Early childhood education and care is important for kids and families. Like workers in many traditionally feminised industries, childcare workers are underpaid. We need to attract a quality workforce to educate and care for our kids, and paying them better is a good start. There are a few issues with this bill that I hope are addressed in the current Senate inquiry. In particular, the bill takes a short-term approach and doesn't allocate money to the special account being established, so it's kicking the can down the road on longer term reform and costs. The broad powers in the grant-making laws leave a lot to the government's discretion. So it's appropriate that the bill be reconsidered in a few years in light of a number of reviews currently underway.
While you couldn't say that the bill will have no inflationary impact, increasing the pay for our lowest-earning women seems an appropriate decision. Having more women here in parliament means that we are starting to correct the long-term gender bias in how we value different types of jobs. Paying childcare workers better is a good step, but I urge the government and the opposition to be bold in thinking about universal childcare access as a step to a better educated population and greater workforce participation for women.
~~Clare O'Neil~~
I want to thank the member for Curtin for her typically thoughtful discussion with regard to this bill, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, that is before the parliament. It's a really important one, Speaker. You and I are Labor people who got into parliament to try to fight inequality and make sure that the quality of life of people in our country isn't defined by their income or indeed by the family that they grew up in. I think when you looked at these matters of social justice and inequality a generation ago you probably would have looked at wage justice and these fundamental things that affect the lives of Australians as adults. But the more we understand about how the life cycle of poverty continues across generations the more obvious it is that the best time for us to focus on is those first thousand days in a child's life.
We don't need any more evidence about this point. There is study after study here in Australia and overseas that show us that, if we intervene in the life of a child, we can radically reshape their trajectory just by making sure that they get off to the right start. That's got an element of health care. It's got an element of supporting parents who might be in a really disadvantaged situation. But probably the most important thing that we can do through politics and through this chamber is making sure that we provide really quality early learning to every single Australian child. They expect and deserve nothing less from this chamber and from this amazing country of ours than for us to be able to extend that generosity to young people by supporting them through those first thousand days.
What we know about early learning in our country is that we're on a real journey here. We've had some periods of time where we've had Australian governments that have thought about this as merely child care, someone taking care of your kids while the families went to work. We as the Labor Party and a Labor government have been working over a number of decades now to really switch the mindset up here. This is not just about looking after children; this is about starting their journey of education in the most positive and powerful way while they take those first steps as really young children and babies.
One of the things that really sticks in my mind in the work that I have done in this area is looking at the different ways in which children who grew up in really advantaged families and really disadvantaged families experience language. There are some studies that have been done overseas that show that there are literally 20 million fewer words heard by children who grew up in very low income and disadvantaged households versus children who grew up in different kinds of households. As Australians, we can't tolerate these things. We've got to intervene, and it is certainly the role of government to reach in and try to give every support and assistance to those children to make sure that they're standing on a platform of support of the Australian people.
The bill before the parliament is about the workers who support these incredible young Australians to get off to the very best start. I'm sure I'm not alone here, but one of the most absolutely fantastic things that we get to do in our work as members of parliament is visit childcare centres where these young Aussies are getting taught by these incredible people, who are spending every day going to work and helping children form their first words and helping them learn through active participation. I'm so lucky to see my three children have had that opportunity. These workers are as good as gold, but for too long the Australian people and the Australian government have not been giving them the rewards that they deserve. We know that they are doing essential work to help build a great future for our country, yet they are being remunerated as though that work were not important, and that's not good enough.
We are on a journey here of making sure those workers in our economy—our aged-care workers, our childcare workers and our disability workers—are getting properly recognised for the support that they give to other Australians. I've got the government whip just behind me here, who has spent her life in education. Don't get her started on the value of educators! I really want to emphasise for the parliament and for people listening at home that Labor understands how difficult and important this work is. If you're a parent of young children, as I am, you know that it is no mean feat to go to work every day and try to educate a whole classroom of three- or four-year-olds, but this is what these people do every day, and they deserve to be properly remunerated. That is what this bill is about.
I want to mention some of the gender issues that lie at the heart of this. It's not something that the parliament is always comfortable talking about, but we've got to address this. We have one of the most gendered workforces in the entire world in our beautiful country of Australia. A lot of people wouldn't believe that, but, if you look at a type of work like construction, you'll find that somewhere around nine in 10 workers in parts of that industry are male. If you look at something like childcare workers, you'll find that almost nine in 10 of those workers are female. This is really important because what we see is that those parts of our economy where women are really dominant tend to be the most underpaid parts of the economy. Of course, we all understand why that is. Historically, women's work has not been sufficiently valued. For a long time, generations of people have talked about that work as though women were going to work out of the goodness of their hearts. That's not respectful, and it's not right, and that's why our government is trying to correct it.
I'll make a final point. Over the last couple of days, the Prime Minister made a series of outstanding announcements about the other end of the education spectrum in making sure that young people who make the fantastic choice—a choice we want them to make—to go on to further study aren't penalised in the way that they are today, and that, for those fantastic young people who want to go into trades, we want to support you. The announcement to make 100,000 fee-free TAFE places available every single year will have transformative effects on our economy and on the lives of all of those young people who take that opportunity.
I want the parliament to know that it is not about picking out one year or one part of our education system; it's about saying that, as a government, we have a special role in helping our youngest Aussies get the right start in life, supporting them all the way through that arch and through to their TAFE training and their university education. As a government, we have an amazing offering on education. It's something that I'm very proud of as a Labor Party member and a member of this House for a long time now.
~~Long debate text truncated.~~