Interview - Today
SARAH ABO: A major boost is on the way for early childhood educators this morning with the government announcing a 15 per cent pay rise for these essential workers.
KARL STEFANOVIC: The wage increase will be locked in through a fair pay fund, ensuring long term support for those shaping the future of Australia's youngest generation. Joining us now live from Canberra is Education Minister Jason Clare. Minister, good morning to you. Thanks for your time. Look, we'll get to that in just a second, but these rallies yesterday, the Greens want an inquiry into police actions. Do you support that?
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: No, I don't. Police shouldn't have to cop that sort of stuff. Police deserve our respect. Their job’s to keep us safe. They shouldn't have to cop what happened yesterday. There's always a place for peaceful protest in a democracy, but there's no place for violence or the sort of things we saw on the streets yesterday.
ABO: Yeah, especially after the injuries that we saw as well. All right, let's get on to those early childhood changes then. You've got the Fair Work Pay Fund. Tell us how it'll work and also whether it will have an impact on the fees that a lot of parents are paying for childcare these days.
CLARE: Our early educators do really important work. Every mum and dad who's getting their kids ready to go off to childcare this morning knows that. But you wouldn't know it from what they're paid. Some of the lowest paid workers in the country. And that's what this legislation will fix. A 15 per cent pay rise, extra 10 per cent from December and then another 5 per cent from next December. It means all up about $7,800 extra in their pockets. But we're doing two things: not only are we giving them a pay rise, we're also making sure that we keep prices down for parents, because for the childcare centre to get the extra money for their workers, they won't be able to increase fees over the next twelve months by more than 4.4 per cent.
STEFANOVIC: All right, let's see how that one rolls out. The social media ban debate rolls on. Obviously, the age limit is being debated at the moment and also the tech around it. Whether or not you can do it and keep data secure, this is pretty vital stuff.
CLARE: It's really important. Million dollar question is what age? I've heard people say 14, other people say 16, but we're already seeing some of the impact that this could have in our schools. We banned mobile phones in schools this year and we're seeing the impact not just in the classroom, but in the playground now. As kids don't have phones in their hands, they're playing with their mates, the playgrounds are louder and friendlier. Kids are being kids. But when school finishes, they get their phone back and they're back in that social media cesspit. If we can get that out of their hands when they're home, they'll be a lot safer, and I think we'll probably be a better, friendlier country.
STEFANOVIC: No, I don't see any negative to it at all. Good on you, Jason, thank you so much for coming up.