Doorstop - Paul Keating Park, Sydney

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: There's nothing more important than our kids or the safety of our kids, and that's what this is all about. I think the whole country was shocked and sickened by the revelations this year of the alleged incidents that happened in childcare centres in Victoria and in NSW. I know I was. I've been pretty blunt that not enough has happened and not quickly enough. That's why we've taken the action that we have. Education Ministers met across the country in August and agreed on a raft of [indistinct] rolled out. That includes new legislation that gives us the power to cut off funding to childcare centres that aren't up to scratch, and so far, 60 centres have been put on notice that they've got to get up to scratch or their funding will be cut off. But not just that. We also agreed on law reform to ban mobile phones in childcare centres, so the criminals who are up to no good in our centres can't use phones as part of their crimes. But not just that; the rollout of CCTV in centres, that trial is now underway. A national register or a database of everybody who works in our childcare centres, and that register is being developed right now by ACECQA and will be tested and trialled before Christmas. And then finally, national mandatory child safety training. And perhaps this is the most important thing we can do of all, because it's the workers in our centres who are our best asset in keeping our kids safe. 99.9 per cent of the people who work in our centres are fantastic people who we entrust to care for our kids, look after our kids and educate our kids. And I know just how broken and heartbroken they are by the revelations this year. And they want to make sure that they've got all of the skills and all of the information and knowledge they need to help keep kids safe. 

And that's what this mandatory training is all about. There's already training at TAFE and university when you study to become an early education teacher. This is about making sure the people who are in the system right now, they've got everything they need, everything they need to know to be able to make sure that if there is a predator hiding in their midst that might be grooming kids or grooming them, trying to distract them, they know what to look out for and they know what to do. It's about fundamentally making sure we keep our kids safe. And that's why, as part of rolling out mandatory child safety training February next year, we're announcing today that this training will happen in centres. These workers are professionals. This is about treating them professionally. It's about making sure that the training is done professionally. And so, to do that, we're going to make sure that the training happens after 5 o'clock, a couple of days a year. And I know that this is going to cause an inconvenience for some mums and dads across the country. I get that. But I hope that parents agree with me that there is nothing more important than keeping our kids safe. And doing this training in this way will make sure it's done properly and that the workers have the skills they need to keep our kids safe. Happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: Will the training days, will they be sort of nationally consistent or is it sort of whenever it suits the centre?

CLARE: It's whenever it suits the centre. We’ll give the centres flexibility around that. There are some days in centres that are busier than others. Not all parents have their children in early education care five days a week. Not all parents pick their kids up after five o' clock as well. So, we'll allow centres some flexibility here about when they do it. But we're allocating $40 million as part of the child care subsidy so that the workers are paid to be trained. And that's about making sure that they're trained properly and they get all of the skills they need here to make sure that if they're in a centre and there is someone there that is up to no good, that they can identify them and they know what to do and they know who to report to and they know what action they need to take to keep the kids there safe.

JOURNALIST: And who will be conducting the training? Because I guess being able to spot these kinds of behaviours, it’s quite a special skill.

CLARE: Yeah. And so, the training package is being developed by the Australian Centre for Child Protection. They're working on that training package right now and it'll be ready to roll out and be delivered online by February of next year.

JOURNALIST: Obviously, this is, I guess, a key period where you have to bring all of these skills to centres, but will this be an ongoing, kind of continuous training module that goes through?

CLARE: Yeah, and it has to be, because workers will come and go. One of the things that really helps us to keep kids safe is to have a permanent workforce. And over the last few years, we've had real shortages in early education and care. We still do, but the 15 per cent pay rise that we're rolling out across the country is helping. And the next 5 per cent of that pay rise starts tomorrow. We've seen in childcare centres across the country that that's reduced vacancy rates and increased job applications. That means there's more permanent workers and fewer labour hire staff. At Goodstart, the biggest not-for-profit childcare centre provider in the country, they've seen a drop in labour hire employees of 70 per cent over the last 12 months. So, that tells me that that's working and that's a big part of keeping our kids safe. There are always going to be new workers coming in and that's why this training needs to be continued.

JOURNALIST: The law reform you spoke to, regarding mobile phones. Some of the feedback I think from some, from some of the workers is that this is sort of a blunt instrument sometimes, and, you know, it's not, sort of, a silver bullet. And I guess, I mean, it creates a huge inconvenience for staff, I suppose, as well. What sort of consideration would be given, I guess, for--

CLARE: There is no silver bullet here. There's a whole bunch of things that need to be done. Getting private or personal phones or devices out of the hands of workers is just one part of that. The awful truth is, we know that where there are paedophiles working in our childcare centres, they take photos of their crimes, and they put it on the dark web. More often than not, that's how they've been caught. That's part of their crime, how they perpetrate their crime. And that's why it's important to get those personal devices out of the hands of staff. There'll still be photos taken at the centre for mums and dads, but that'll be on the centre devices. And I think most parents would agree that's the right thing to do. Everybody that I've spoken to who works in the sector agrees that's what we must do.

JOURNALIST: Now, on another matter, a happy day for the Prime Minister. You're looking pretty fresh this morning. It suggests perhaps you weren't at last night's event.

CLARE: No, I wasn't. I was, well, I was at the School Spectacular in Homebush yesterday, which was spectacular, but across the road at the Bankstown Sports Club for the Canterbury Bankstown Chamber of Commerce event, which was pretty spectacular, I've got to tell you, as well. But can I say congratulations to Anthony and Jodie on getting married yesterday, but for all of us who've been lucky enough to tie the knot, you know just how fortunate you are in life to find that special person to fall in love with and for them to love you back. So, congratulations to Anthony and Jodie and best wishes to Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson on their impending marriage. You can't be too [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: I mean, pretty amazing, too, to pull that off in—mostly in secret at the end of a very busy parliamentary week, as well.

CLARE: Never underestimate Anthony Albanese.

JOURNALIST: We are sort of leading into the Christmas break. Are you expecting a bit of a lull or do you think, you know, the Liberals, I guess as Sussan Ley tries to, you know, cement leadership, will be pretty active?

CLARE: We're going to be focused on our job. Our job is to represent the Australian people and govern in their interest, to focus on the cost of living, to continue delivering the things that we promised with the election. So, for example, in my own portfolio this week, one and a half million Australians had their student debt cut by 20 per cent. This coming Thursday, another one and a half million Australians will have their student debt cut by 20 per cent. This is the biggest cut to student debt in Australian history. So, we're focused on delivering. Sussan Ley and David Littleproud and the Liberals and the Nationals [indistinct] focused on themselves, focused on division. You know, they can't agree on anything, whether it's climate change, immigration, [indistinct] where this is an Opposition who just can't get their shirt together. 

JOURNALIST: We might leave it at that.

CLARE: Okay, thanks very much.