Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account)

“We think our early educators have one of the most important jobs imaginable, which is to educate our young people. We think it's absolutely critical. They deserve much more than our thanks. Those opposite can barely give them thanks. They deserve our respect, and they deserve to be paid properly and justly. That's what this legislation, the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024, is about. The bill is about making sure those educators are fairly paid, and it delivers on our announcement on 8 August to deliver a wage increase to early childhood and care educators. It's about addressing workforce shortages. That's why they had workforce shortages—because people weren't being paid properly. We're increasing their wages to get people into the sector and to incentivise them.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 09 Oct 2024

“I encourage all of those present to vote for this bill. I would again like to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the many educators and teachers in my electorate who each and every day give our children the great opportunity of early childhood education and the care that they require.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“The Productivity Commission's final report confirms what the Albanese government already knew: that prioritising the early learning workforce is critical to any reform. That's why this bill is so important. The wage justice bill supports this historic 15 per cent wage increase for our early childhood education workers. It ensures that funding gets passed on to workers in full. It requires early childhood education and care services to agree to limit the increases they make in the fees they charge families, so it will help strengthen the early learning workforce without passing these costs on to families.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I would like to thank the United Workers Union for their fierce advocacy for early childhood education and care workers through their Big Steps campaign to help secure this pay rise, and I would also like to thank all the early childhood education and care workers, especially those in the Illawarra, for everything that they do. You deserve this pay rise, and I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“If human rights are forgotten when it comes to women and children, we don't really understand human rights at all, and this bill does. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I look forward to visiting, once I return to my electorate, more centres. I know I will be opening an early childhood education centre very soon. There's a lot of growth in this sector in my electorate. But for the moment I'm very pleased to stand here as part of a government that is delivering wage justice for early childhood education and care workers—wage justice that is much deserved.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 10 Oct 2024

“I fully support the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill 2024 because I've seen firsthand the contributions they have made, and continue to make, to our society. I saw that as a mother when I dropped my children, when they were toddlers, off to early education so that I could be part of our economy and our education system and make my contribution to this society. This legislation will help address significant workforce shortages that we're also seeing, because it supports the delivery of a much-needed wage increase of 15 per cent for eligible workers across two years. It's a wage increase that is long overdue for some of our hardest workers in this heavily feminised workforce, a wage increase that was needed but ignored by those opposite for such a long time.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 10 Oct 2024

“The Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) Bill before the House today will help address significant workforce shortages in early childhood education by supporting the delivery of a wage increase of 15 per cent for eligible workers over two years. A typical early childhood educator on award wages will receive an additional $103 a week from December 2024, increasing to at least $155 from December 2025. A typical early childhood teacher on award wages will receive an additional $166 a week from December 2024, increasing to at least $249 a week from December 2025. These are very significant pay increases.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“By supporting this bill we are not only doing what is right for early childhood educators but also investing in the future of our children and the future of our nation. I urge all members of this House to support this important piece of legislation. Let us stand together for wage justice, for gender equity and for the future of early childhood education in this country.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I urge everyone in this chamber to support this bill and to celebrate the work of our early childhood educators. Together we can build a better future for our children—one where every educator feels valued and every family has access to the quality of care and education they deserve. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 10 Oct 2024

“So, to make this pay rise a reality, this bill sets up the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers Special Account. This account will allow the Albanese government to deliver a 15 per cent pay rise over two years through the ECEC Worker Retention Payment Program.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I am very proud to join with every member of the government in commending this bill to the House. I thank the minister, the member for Cowan, very much for her work, ably supported here by the education minister. Both of them are so passionate about opportunity and how education is the key to creating that opportunity for all, which is about creating an opportunity for Australia to seize to be the best country that we can be in the future. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 08 Oct 2024

“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.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I commend this bill to the House. I look forward to its implementation. I congratulate the minister, and I congratulate all those early childhood intervention teachers that have been involved in getting this bill through the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“This bill builds on the government's support for the ECEC sector and Australian families, including the cheaper childcare measures, which injected $5 billion into the sector in our first budget. This in turn has made child care cheaper for more than a million families. Our children and parents, especially our mums, and our economy will be the beneficiaries, but it all starts with the workforce. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“These workers very much deserve our support. The work they do is incredibly important to families, to our economy and of course, most of all, to the kids they care for and educate in their earliest years. On that basis I commend the bill to the chamber.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Nov 2024

“I would note that the coalition and every member of this place—obviously the government and those on the crossbench as well—would recognise that our early childhood teachers and educators work extremely hard. We won't be standing in the way of a wage rise for those people but we still have some concerns about this bill and the policy going forward.”

National Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“It's difficult to make any argument against better wages for childcare workers, and I certainly don't intend to. This side of the House will be supporting these increases.”

Liberal Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“I mentioned that I will also be moving a second reading amendment. I want to just outline what that second reading amendment is. While we are not declining to give the bill a second reading, we are asking the Senate to note and endorse that the government's economic mismanagement and cost-of-living crisis has led to higher wage bills and higher utility, rent and grocery bills for childhood education providers. The bill will place further administrative burden on providers, particularly small and medium providers. The government's decision to include a workplace instrument in this bill is unnecessary and puts pressure on service providers to unionise their workforce.”

Liberal Party • Senator • 26 Nov 2024

“That is why this bill really needs to be far, far more holistic in its approach. We know and understand our early childhood educators deserve a pay increase, but we also know that there has to be a way to do that which doesn't lead to inflation going higher or those costs going higher or out-of-pocket costs for parents continuing to rise year on year as they have for the last 12 months by 8.4 per cent.”

Liberal Party • MP • 10 Oct 2024

“The bill, which is supported by us, legislates a special account known as the Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers Special Account to support a government funded 15 per cent pay increase for childcare workers across Australia.”

National Party • MP • 04 Nov 2024

“We need to fix all this with a decent pay rise for our childcare workforce—a rise that goes beyond 15 per cent to meet the expectations, evidence and case for a 25 per cent rise. This bill is a step in that direction. But we need a lot more. We need affordable, accessible, quality care for all who need it. Our economic future depends on it, our families are looking for it and, more importantly, the healthy future of our kids depends on it.”

Australian Greens • Senator • 26 Nov 2024

“In closing, there is so much more to be done to ensure early-childhood education and care is valued, affordable, accessible and of a high quality for all Australians. Paying workers what they deserve is an essential first step in this journey. I welcome this bill, and I very much look forward to supporting it as it moves through the House.”

Independent • MP • 10 Oct 2024

“This bill is an important step in the right direction for wage justice in the early childhood education and care sector, but it's important that we get it right. Don't leave Aboriginal childcare services out. I used to be the cook, when I was 17, at Yappera Children's Services. Don't leave us out. We provide a holistic approach. It is very, very important for our communities. You've done the wrong thing in leaving us out of this, and you should fix that. For this program to be inclusive and supportive to those that need it most, we need to start truly valuing the work of those holding our society together and looking after our future generations. Don't leave anyone else out.”

Independent • Senator • 26 Nov 2024

“I promised the women of Goldstein I would fight for their economic security, especially for those who are not in the room, and I will continue to do so. I commend this bill to the House.”

Independent • MP • 10 Oct 2024