Press Conference - Perth

PATRICK GORMAN: As the Member for Perth, I know that our entire economy rides on the back of the early childhood and education sector. These educators and those in training that we’ve been meeting with today with Minister Anne Aly and the team here at Leederville TAFE know that they are making a huge contribution to Australia’s economic future. Here in the Perth electorate some 6,800 families have benefited from our Government’s Cheaper Child Care policies. But that only works if we’ve got the workforce to deliver that Cheaper Child Care. So I’m really pleased that we’re here today with the Minister for Early Childhood Education, my good friend Anne Aly, to talk about how we’re going to back the next generation of early childhood educators to make sure that parents like myself get that great quality early childhood education care for their young ones and the ability to engage in the workforce and the great job opportunities that are here in Perth and across WA. Over to you, Anne. 

MINISTER ANNE ALY: Thanks, Patrick. Well, first of all, a huge thank you to Patrick and to the team here at Leederville TAFE. I used to be a TAFE teacher, so this is bringing back some memories for me. 

The Albanese Labor government has huge plans for reform of the early childhood education and care sector. We’ve said that we want to have a universal system that is world class, that is accessible, that is affordable, and that is inclusive. We’ve already made way in making early childhood education and care more affordable with the introduction of our Cheaper Child Care Bill within our first six months of being elected as the Government of Australia. 

Now we’re continuing that work. In the previous Budget we introduced $72 million for paid practicums. The first tranche of that was for paid practicums for people studying early childhood education and care in rural and regional areas and for First Nations. Today we’re announcing that we’re opening that up for all early childhood education and care students in diploma – at diploma level. Now, that means that 75,000 early childhood educators are set to benefit from our paid practicums and our paid professional development. 

We’ve just been upstairs talking to some Cert III students and some Diploma students, and one of the things that we like to ask them is why did they choose early childhood education and care. Many of them have taken advantage of our Government’s Fee-Free TAFE, and I’m told that right here at this TAFE campus there are around 450 students doing Cert III and around 120 doing their diploma here, and that’s a huge increase since the introduction of Fee-Free TAFE. 

But every time you talk to people who are either already in the sector as early childhood educators or people who have chosen to do early childhood education and care as a career choice, the one thing that comes out is their passion and their love for early childhood. It is such an important work and an important workforce. And our government recognises that. We know that to reach our goal of a universal world-class early childhood education and care sector that we need to invest in our workforce. And we need to recognise that workforce. And we need to encourage more people – more people – to make that choice to be early childhood educators and teachers.

So I want to say a huge thank you to everybody out there who’s already in the sector or who’s already decided that this is their passion and they’re going to follow their passion and be an early childhood educator. And to make that easier, to make that easier for them, with our Fee-Free TAFE and now our paid practicums. I want to encourage anyone else who wants to do this as a career to have a look at it. It’s a great career path. It’s great to have the capacity in your hands to change the trajectory of a child’s life. That’s what these people do day in, day out. And I’m incredibly proud to be part of a government that recognises that and that will continue to support our early childhood education and care workforce. Thank you. Questions? 

JOURNALIST: What’s the cost of the extension program? 

ALY: So, the program, we allocated $72 million for it, not in the last Budget but in the Budget before. So the entire program cost is $72 million. 

JOURNALIST: Right. And so how many people have applied and received that payment to date? 

ALY: So to date it’s helped around 20,000 early childhood educators and carers. As I said, the first tranche, our first focus, was for those in rural and regional areas and First Nations. This is now opening it up to all early childhood educators and carers and by the end of it we’re estimating that it will help 75,000 all up. 

JOURNALIST: Right. And how much are they eligible to receive during the practicum? 

ALY: Well, it depends on the practicum. So there are three components to it. One part is a practicum exchange where – so when an early childhood educator undertakes a practicum, there’s part of it that they can do in the service that they work at, and part of it that they have to go to another service for. And it was that part that was causing financial stress for the early childhood educators that I met and spoke to. And so, the idea was, okay, so how do we alleviate that financial stress? One part is that you can do practicum exchanges whereby you – two services will agree to pay their workers as they do the practicums, but the other part is a government-funded practicum exchange. 

JOURNALIST: Other issues of the day, can I ask about the CFMEU, the revelations this morning that convicted armed robber Nathan Fisher in WA is a union health and safety rep at the CFMEU, is that concerning that that’s the case in WA?

GORMAN: Look, I think firstly I’d just say that when it comes to the things we’ve seen in the CFMEU construction division across the nation, where there have been concerns, we have acted. This Government has acted consistently and very swiftly, and you saw that last week. On the concerns that we see in the paper today, of course what I’d expect is that every union is doing thorough checks of their employees. I’d expect that every union is making sure that their employees are conducting union business – not any other business, and definitely not any criminal activity. I note that when it comes to those matters it’s obviously the WA Police who have responsibility for enforcing criminal codes here. But, again, I just note when it comes to the Federal Government – and you also saw this with the National Executive of the Labor Party last week – when there are serious concerns, we have not hesitated to act. 

JOURNALIST: Should a convicted armed robber, though, be an employee of a union in WA? 

GORMAN: Your question goes to this question of second chances. Does someone once they’ve served their time get a second chance to engage in society? I note that if our viewers turned on Channel 7 and watched Dancing with the Stars, you would see people who have been given a second chance. You would see people who have been given a second chance. But I’m not across all of the matters that this person – the individual that you refer to – his convictions, nor the screening process that the CFMEU WA Branch as to how they choose their staff. I’d refer those matters to the secretary of that union.

JOURNALIST: So because Ben Cousins is on Dancing with the Stars, Nathan Fisher should be employed at the CFMEU? 

GORMAN: I was just pointing out that your question goes to this question of second chances and whether or not once someone has served their time whether or not they should be able to have a role in society. Now I again – I’ve just said I don’t know the full circumstances of this individual’s history. That will be a question for WA Police and the courts. And when it comes to the question of what screening is conducted at the CFMEU WA, that’s a question for the CFMEU WA. What I’m responsible for as a member of the Federal Government is that when there is a registered organisation not complying with their obligations to focus on health, safety and members’ interests, we take action. I’m very clear – couldn’t be clearer. Where there are concerns, we will take action. Again, where we’re received requests from state premiers to take action, we have taken action. 

JOURNALIST: Given the allegations, though, that the CFMEU is disrupting cement pours deliberately to try and cause pain to construction companies, shouldn’t these be further investigated by the government, especially given the claims on the east coast and the action taken on the east coast? 

GORMAN: Yeah, well, look, I hope the east coast CFMEU cancer doesn’t infect Western Australia. I’ll say that very clearly. When it comes to the question of conduct on construction sites, obviously we have a regulator at the Commonwealth level. That’s the Fair Work Ombudsman. Where there are concerns, they should be referred to the Fair Work Ombudsman. That’s a matter that anyone who’s in the construction industry can do as of today. They can raise their concerns publicly, of course, but they can raise them with the Fair Work Ombudsman. When it comes to the question of any illegal activity, I encourage anyone, be they in the construction industry or any other industry, to go directly to the police. 

JOURNALIST: Why then, given the east coast concerns, wasn’t the entire union brought under the same sort of standards nationwide? It’s a little strange that WA is still accepting donations, still affiliated when on the east coast it’s not. 

GORMAN: Obviously there’s been a suspension on the east coast at the request of Premiers in those states. We’ve acted in accordance with that when it comes to the question of the matters that we saw revealed by a range of media outlets. You know, I celebrate the work that the media does in bringing these matters to light. I really do, because I want – I want a union movement in Australia that focuses on health, safety and the conditions of workers. If I think about who we’ve been talking to today, early childhood workers, they’re actually – they’re the face of the modern union movement. Not bikies, not criminals, but early childhood workers. Women, I think the average union member is a woman in her 40s, someone who’s actually contributing to maybe the care economy or administrative services. That’s what the modern union movement looks like as a cohort. And I don’t want any bad element of any organisation stopping those people, like the people that Anne looks after in early childhood education and care, from getting the pay, conditions and good workplaces, good jobs that they deserve. That’s again why the government that I’m proud to be a part of, when we saw this disgusting behaviour from people within branches of the CFMEU, we took action.

JOURNALIST: On the shot-hole borer, has the State Government dropped the ball on tackling this scourge on [indistinct]? 

GORMAN: The shot-hole borer is a real concern for people in the Perth electorate. I’ve had people in my electorate have their trees chopped down in their backyard. There are people who are very concerned about what’s going to happen when it comes to parks that we love, like Kings Park and Hyde Park. I’ve been advocating on this for a number of months, and it’s great to see in the last few days that the Lord Mayor/Future Member for Churchlands aspirant Basil Zempilas and Libby Mettam have finally got on to this as well. 

This has been a conversation that’s been happening in the Perth community for many months. I’m actually off to meet with Mayor Alison Xamon, the Mayor of the City of Vincent, after this, and I’m sure we’ll be talking about the shot-hole borer again, as we have been doing for a long, long period of time. 

When it comes to the Commonwealth’s role, we have committed some $19.9 million to the State Government-led eradication effort. It is an eradication effort. I do not have any – I do not want to open any doors to some kind of management exercise or just live with it. We’ve got to get rid of this bug. Because otherwise it will destroy our agriculture industry, it will destroy the parks that we love, and it will destroy people's backyards. So we’ve got to go very hard. I’ve said before, I’ll get my chainsaw out if I need to, if that will help. And if that means me, Jackie Jarvis and Basil Zempilas are all out there with chainsaws, make it happen. Because whatever it takes, we should do. We’ve put in $19.9 million to that effort, so I’m really proud of the work that I’ve done, along with Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, to protect Western Australian industry, to protect Australian industry. But it’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and I’ve had the different conversations with locals about the necessity of chopping down those trees. That’s not something that’s warmly welcomed, but it needs to be done. 

JOURNALIST: The eradication efforts, though, have slowed at a state level. Numbers out of the City of Canning show they had seven trees chopped down between March and June. Is that concerning that those figures are dropping? 

GORMAN: We’ve got to chop the trees down. We have to chop them down. We’ve got to do it in accordance with the advice of agriculture experts. I’ve spoken to a number of them who’ve given – who’ve say this is the path forward. I’ve got to accept that advice. When we talk about COVID for trees, one of the reasons this state got through Covid so successfully was because we accepted the advice of experts. To get through the elimination of the borer successfully we need to listen to the advice of experts. 

JOURNALIST: And finally – last one from me – rumours of a reshuffle happening as soon as Sunday. Are you both looking forward to maybe getting a little extra job or a change in position? 

GORMAN: I think for those that just toured the early childhood facilities that we’ve seen here at Leederville TAFE, people would know that I love my job as the Federal Member for Perth and the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Public Service. I love every bit of that role. I don’t think Anne will mind me speaking for her in saying that she loves her role as the Minister for Early Childhood and Youth. I think it’s a privilege to serve in government. Every day is a privilege. As for rumours, well, they’re just rumours.

JOURNALIST: Immigration Minister Patrick Gorman has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? 

GORMAN: They’re just rumours. Thanks very much.