Speech - ECA WA Conference

Good morning everyone. This really brings back memories. I’ve given many lectures in this room, and every time I lectured in this room, I never stood here. 

So I'm going to stand here, and can you hear me at the back? 

Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Amy, for that wonderful introduction, and I also want to thank you Auntie Robyn for that beautiful welcome to country.   

Can I start also by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we meet, the Whadjuk Noongar people, and I want to pay my respects to elders, past, present and emerging and celebrate the diversity of First Nations people, their ongoing cultural and educational practices and their connection to the land, water and skies. And I acknowledge any First Nations people joining us here this morning on a beautiful Saturday morning. 

I was saying earlier, I don't think there is any other sector that would come out on a Saturday morning of a long weekend to a conference, so kudos to each and every one of you who are here. 

Can I take a moment just to acknowledge a few other people; my dear friend, Professor Andrew Whitehouse, Professor of Autism Research at the Telethon Kids Research Institute. I'm sure that you are going to be blown away by Andrew's presentation. Every time Andrew and I sit down together, and I learn about the work he is doing, it really just blows my mind. 

Can I also acknowledge the ECA WA Committee members here, all the early childhood leaders and educators here today as well, the most important people in the room, of course.

So I'm really – I'm just really honoured to be here to welcome you today to this day‑long conference. I was in Brisbane for the ECA Conference, it feels like a long time ago, but it actually was only two or three days ago, and that was a fabulous conference too. 

I remember my very first ECA conference which was in Canberra. I'm a professor before I became a politician, so I'm an academic in nature, and so coming to conferences is like Disneyland for me. I find them incredibly exciting. 

Unfortunately I have to get on a plane straight after this, so I cannot join you for the rest of the day, but I know that it will be a day filled with incredible insights, an opportunity to share, an opportunity to learn and opportunity to network, and I think they are some of the invaluable things that you can take away from days like today. 

I'm actually not going to read this speech, because I'd much rather talk to you like this. It's a really exciting time to be in the early childhood education sector at the moment, because we are on the cusp of a lot of reform. 

I think that when I went to the very first ECA Conference, at the end of the conference – because I stayed for the whole thing – at the end of the conference they put up findings from the very first conference, which was way back in 1983, or 82, and it was really interesting that they contrasted them with the findings or the outcomes of the conference in 2022, it was at the time, and not much had changed. 

In fact. nothing had changed. The issues were still the same, the concerns were still the same, the things that needed reform were still the same. And I think that speaks to the fact that this is a sector that is essentially, provides an essential service, not just for families who work, or where care givers work, but particularly for children in those first five years of their lives, the transformational benefits that you all bring to children and their families. 

And I think that it is high time that the sector had the level of attention that it deserves. You as educators and leaders getting that recognition for the professionalism that you bring to your work. Dedication is great, and I know you all love your jobs, but I also know that you need to be recognised as professionals. 

And as I said earlier, being here on a Saturday morning on a long weekend is demonstration of that, of that commitment to professionalism, as well as that dedication to the children that you teach, that you educate every day and the families that you help, it's that dedication to the professionalism of what you do. 

It's been a long time coming, but I can tell you our government does not see you as babysitters, does not see you as care givers. We understand, and we know that what you do is education. 

I often say this to people: I often say, you know, we talk about a child learning to talk, we say "They learnt to walk., they learnt to use a spoon or a fork, or the potty". Those first five years of a child's life are education, and we know from research – I actually studied my Masters of Education here, and I studied my post graduate here in Child Language Acquisition. And we know from research and cases where children have not had that interaction, that they don't learn these things naturally. These are things that are taught to them, and that is the critical role that early childhood education and early childhood educators play in the shaping of a child's life, not just in those first five years, but into their childhood, their adolescence, their adulthood. So it's a critical time for that recognition of professionalism. 

Now we've done a number of things. We know that the Prime Minister has articulated a commitment to universal early childhood education and care. I translate that as a sector that is affordable, accessible, and importantly inclusive. That's really the key part of what you do, is that inclusivity. 

When we first came into government, one of the first things we did was increase the Child Care Subsidy, and that's helped about a million families across Australia, the ACCC review found that that's reduced out‑of‑pocket costs by around 11 per cent. 

In fact, I was on the Radio 6PR, the other day, and the presenter was saying that his fees went from $70 a day to $40 a day, which makes a huge difference to families, right, and to children. 

The second thing that we did was recently announced a pay increase for early childhood educators, a 15 per cent pay increase, 10 per cent this year, 5 per cent next year. That comes on top of increases from the Fair Work Commission, particularly for some of the lowest‑paid educators in the sector and workers in the sector. 

That 15 per cent increase also applies to out‑of‑school‑hours care, and we are working really hard with family day care and in‑home care to see how it can also apply to them. 

That's the second thing, because everything that we know, every report, every review, everybody knows that if we want to build that universal early childhood education sector that we want to see that is world‑class quality, affordable, accessible, inclusive, we need a strong and stable workforce, and one that is fairly remunerated for the work that they do and recognised as the professionals that they are. 

So that's a big part of what I do as the Early Childhood Education Minister, is looking at how we strengthen the workforce, but importantly how we contribute as leaders, as politicians, as policy makers to that recognition of the professionalism of the workforce. 

Now last week, on Wednesday, we released the Productivity Commission Review. Now what we wanted the Productivity Commission to do was to give us some ideas in helping us chart that path to universal early childhood education and care. 

I know from speaking to the sector, from speaking to early childhood educators, to academics, to advocates, to leaders, that we're on the same page in terms of what we want for children. 

We want every child to be able to access the transformational benefits of early childhood education and care. We're on the same page with what we mean by "universal". It means that every child has access. 

But how do we get there? How do we get there? How do we get there within the constraints of what the sector looks like? The diversity within the sector, the different and sometimes competing priorities in the sector. The diversity of service delivery, but also the diversity of contexts in which services are delivered; rural/regional, low socio‑economic, high socio‑economic, the different contexts in which they're delivered. First Nations, you know delivering culturally appropriate and culturally responsive early childhood education and care in place. 

And that's what the Productivity Commission was tasked with. So they've come out with a number of recommendations, and you might have read about some of them, you might have heard about some of these. 

Primarily their recommendations are around – well, their findings aren't anything that we didn't know, that some of the most vulnerable children are the ones who are missing out.

So their findings are around abolishing the activity test and making early childhood education and care free for people earning under $80,000 a year for one child, and $140,000 a year for two or more children in ECEC, with a tapering rate according to parents' incomes. 

Abolishing the activity test, and a guarantee of 30 hours a week – or three days for every child – a guarantee, and an ECEC Commission to oversee this. 

Now we're going to be considering all of those recommendations that the Productivity Commission makes, and we'll be considering them along with the ACCC Review. 

One of the things I'm incredibly conscious of as the Minister is that within this sector every lever that you pull has a flow‑on effect ‑ and I know that Andrew's talk is all about the ripple effect ‑ every lever that we pull has a ripple effect and a flow‑on effect to another part of the sector. 

And so just as we look at child development holistically, with early childhood education, health, parenting, social services being all part of that development, as we did with the Early Years Strategy, we also have to look at the sector and the reform that we make holistically. 

What is it, when we do one thing in one space, what impact does it have on other spaces, particularly considering the diversity of the sector, the diversity of services and the diversity of place and context, as I mentioned earlier. 

Now, I don't know – who was – was anyone in Brisbane on Wednesday? 

So Professor Paul Leseman's talk was all about governance and localised governance, and that was a really interesting talk. And I'm constantly looking at international examples and international research to how we can create a uniquely Australian sector, but take with us the lessons, develop that with the lessons that have been learnt internationally. 

And that's what makes this time really, really exciting. Because right now internationally there are so many lessons that are being learned from different countries in the ways in which they attempted to, or instigated, reforms within early childhood education, from the Nordic countries, to Canada, to New Zealand, to all different countries. 

So as academic nerd I'm basically eating the research for breakfast, along with my coffee. And so for me as the Early Childhood Education Minister, you know, I know where we want to be, and I know that we share that vision with each and every one of you. 

It's a beautiful vision, right, and wow, how would it be if we could achieve that? That every child, no matter who they are, no matter what their background, no matter where they live can access this really high‑quality transformational early childhood education and care. 

Because one of the first things I said to my department when I took on this portfolio was that the principle that guides us is that no child born into disadvantage should have to carry that disadvantage through their life, and the key to that is what you all do. 

I speak to that not just as an academic who studied early childhood and – not early childhood, but childhood language and has a Master of Education, I speak to that as a mother. I speak to that as a single mum who was fleeing domestic violence, who has an unending gratitude to the early childhood educators who helped me through the most difficult time of my life. 

Sorry. A few months ago, I was at a different conference, and at the back of the room was the educator who cared for my children, and we saw each other, and we just hugged each other and cried, and I said to her, "Do you have any idea how much you saved me? Do you have any idea what was going on in my household?" And she said, "Anne, we all knew, we all knew". 

That is the difference that you make to people's lives. That is the difference that you make. 

So I'm going to stop, because I've got to catch a plane, and I hate it when I cry before I get on a plane. 

But look, I just want to say to you, I'm really excited. I am really excited about what we can do together, hand‑in‑hand, moving forward on this pathway, on this journey. And I'm excited too by what's at the end of this journey, and I am incredibly honoured to be the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Care. It is a portfolio that – not just because I get to play with babies – but because of you, because the heart, the dedication, the professionalism that you bring to the work that you do inspires me every single day to be better and to do better for you. 

So thank you so much for hearing me rant. And I wish you all the best for the rest of the conference. Enjoy it, and I hope you get so much value out of it, and I look forward to seeing all your faces again soon.