Doorstop - Sydney
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: This really is a day to celebrate. It’s a great day. It’s payday for thousands of early educators right across the country. Over the last year or so we’ve cut the cost of early education and care for more than a million Australian families right across the country. For a family, for example, on a combined income of about 120 grand it means that their bill is about $2,000 less than it otherwise would have been because of those reforms. We’re seeing the impact of that in centres right across the country now. There’s about a hundred thousand more children in early education today than there were two and a half years ago when we were elected. That’s a good thing. It shows it’s working.
But the next step is we need to build the workforce that makes the magic in these centres happen, that helps to educate even more young people. We’ve got about 30,000 more early educators today than we did two and a half years ago, but the truth is we need more than that. Now, what the Productivity Commission’s report into early education and care said is the first thing and most important thing that we need to do is lift the wages of early educators to build our early education and care workforce. And that’s what this $3.6 billion is all about. That’s what this 15 per cent pay rise is all about. It’s about respect. It’s about recognising the fact that the work that early educators do – not all women, but overwhelmingly women – is not about changing nappies; it’s about changing lives. That early education makes all the difference in whether a child is ready to start school or whether they start school behind. And I know through the work that I do in schools and in higher education that if you start behind you’re more likely to stay behind. So, the work that is done in our centres is critical.
But first and foremost, it’s about respect. But it’s also about recognising that these are not just some of the most important jobs in the country, they’re some of the most underpaid jobs in the country. And by paying people more, you help people stay doing the jobs that they love. Too many people over the last – well, I was going to say couple of years but the truth is it’s longer than that – have left the job they love because they can’t afford to keep doing it because they could get paid more at Woolies or Coles or Big W or Bunnings.
So what we’re hoping here with this 15 per cent pay rise that starts to roll out this week, it means an extra a hundred bucks in your purse or your wallet a week from this week, about an extra five grand in your pocket over the next 12 months and even more after that. What we’re hoping with this is that it will, number one, encourage early educators to stay doing the job that they love – including Kerrie who looks after my little guy, who told me that she might just stay there that she won’t have to quit – it will hopefully encourage more people to come back to the job that they love too. And we’re hearing some early good signs on that front too from different providers telling us that the number of job applications in the last couple of weeks has gone up. So that’s a good sign. That’s a good start.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the union, the UWU, for the mountain of work that they have done to get us to this point. I want to thank all of the early education providers who’ve been part of this journey as well. This is a classic example of how to get things done – government, business and unions working together to build a better and a fairer system. And that’s what we have here. By paying our early educators more, it means more young people can benefit from the life-changing work that they do, and that will help to build a better and a fairer country. So today’s a great day. Today is payday.
JOURNALIST: Minister, will you reflect on the benefit of the pay rise landing in people’s pay packets just before Christmas?
CLARE: We know that a lot of Aussies are doing it tough, and a lot of early educators are doing it tough. They don’t get paid a king’s ransom to do this job. And a pay rise of 10 per cent just before Christmas is going to really help. And another 5 per cent just before Christmas next year. This is about, number one, showing a bit of respect for some of the most important workers in this country, but also making sure that they’re paid better, that they’re paid more like what they deserve for the critical work that they do.