Doorstop - Haberfield
SALLY SITOU, MEMBER FOR REID: This is a great announcement from the Albanese Labor government which says that it's not childcare, it's not babysitting, this is early childhood education. And these are announcements that value our early childhood educators because we know that they teach our littlest kids the wonders of the world, curiosity about the solar system, about amazing things like sharing, and these announcements value their work.
They are highly trained professionals and I'm so proud to be part of a government that is valuing them. Really great to have the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, here to see the amazing work that happens at Goodstart Haberfield.
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks, Sally. It's great to be here in Haberfield. Sally Sitou is an amazing Member of Parliament, a friend of mine, a very, very dear colleague and as a mum, just like I'm a dad with little children, you understand just how critical early education is.
The fact is child care is an essential service for more than a million families right across the country and it's critical to help children get ready to start school. In just over two years, we've cut the cost of childcare for more than a million families across the country. We’ve now got 100,000 more children in early education than when we came to government. That's a great thing.
We're also increasing the pay for early educators. That 15 per cent pay rise for early educators has started rolling out to centres just like this, the Goodstart Centre here at Haberfield, from this week. And that's going to mean an extra hundred bucks’ a week for early educators working in centres like this across the country, just in time for Christmas and even more next year.
And yesterday the Prime Minister announced the next step that involves a 3 Day Guarantee, making sure that every child gets the best possible start in life by making sure that every child who needs it gets access to three days of government-supported early education and care to help make sure that they're ready to start school, that they don't start school behind.
The Prime Minister announced something else yesterday, and that's a $1 billion fund to build childcare centres where they're really needed, in what's called childcare deserts in the outer suburbs of our big cities and in regional Australia, where the private sector aren't there and where there isn't enough services, there aren't enough places for mums and dads at the moment. There's a role here for the government to fill that gap, to make sure that we're looking after the needs of parents and the needs of our children. That's what that fund's about. It'll also involve investing that money in building centres in our primary schools as well. This is a fundamental part of what a Labor Government is all about: helping to support parents and helping to support our next generation of Australians, our children.
The fact that the Liberal Party was so quick yesterday to come out and criticise all of these policies - a fund to build more childcare centres, as well as a three day guarantee to make sure every child gets a great start in life - I think tells you everything about the modern Liberal Party today.
Peter Dutton says that he cares about the outer suburbs and the regions. When we announce a policy to build child care centres in the outer suburbs and in the regions, he attacks it. I think this shows just how out of touch Peter Dutton and the Liberals are. It was interesting that David Littleproud and the Nats didn't attack it. That shows that they get it, but Peter Dutton and the Liberals don't.
This mob of Liberals, this mob of Scott Morrison leftovers, are so policy moribund at the moment that I reckon there's been more sightings of the Loch Ness Monster than there have been of Peter Dutton's election policies. And remember, we're just a few months out from an election. No policies when it comes to education, very little policies on anything else. Over the last two weeks, Peter Dutton has lost two senior members of his team and two big policies. He promised tax cuts, now he's broken that policy. He promised to cut migration, now he's broken that policy as well. And when it comes to education, remember this, under the Liberals, child care costs jumped by almost 50 per cent. They ripped $30 billion out of our schools and they jacked up the cost of university degrees. This mob has no credibility when it comes to education.
And just finally, not only this week have we seen pay rises for early educators and our announcement of a billion dollar fund to build more childcare centres and make sure every child gets a crack at early education. But this week also, there's big news when it comes to cutting HECS debt. Right around the country today, lots of Australians are seeing their HECS debt cut.
Remember last year, HECS went up when inflation spiked and as a result of that, the indexation of HECS went up. A lot of young Australians called this out and said we needed to act. I agree, and we did act. That's why we've legislated in the Australian Parliament to fix what happened last year and make sure that it never happens again. The result of all of that is that yesterday, today and over the next few days, you're going to see your HECS debt cut for 3 million Australians right across the country. So, get on MyGov and check it out and make sure that your HECS debt is being cut right now. And if we win the next election, we'll cut your HECS debt by a further 20 per cent. What does all of that mean? We'll tell you what that means. That means for an Australian with an average HECS debt today of 27 grand, this week they're going to see their HECS debt cut by about 1200 bucks. And if we win the next election, that debt will be cut by a further 5,500 bucks. All of this - cutting debt, lifting wages, building centres, making sure that every child who needs it gets government support and access to early education and care - is about making sure we build a better and a fairer education system for Australia.
Thanks very much.