Transcript - ABC News Breakfast with James Glenday

JAMES GLENDAY: Next, we take you to Canberra and bring in the Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, who is of course at Parliament House. He has a very big day. Responsible for a couple of key bits of legislation. Minister, welcome back to News Breakfast. 

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks, mate. Good morning. 

GLENDAY: We've got a lot of policy to discuss, but I just wanted to ask you for your reflection first of all. What was it like going into Parliament yesterday and seeing the scale of your victory, all of those Labor MPs spilling out right to the other side of the chamber? 

CLARE: Well, I guess it reminded me of the responsibility we've got. The Australian people have entrusted us with government and a very large majority. We've got a responsibility to be worthy of that trust and to pay that back with responsible government. And that's what we're determined to do. 

GLENDAY: I couldn't help but notice that the two women who beat both Peter Dutton and Adam Bandt got to deliver their maiden speeches first. They were lovely speeches. Watched them last night. Quite moving. Were the order of these speeches meant to send a bit of a message to your political opponents? If you get in our way, this is what could happen to you? 

CLARE: No, but, I think the personal stories of both of those women are incredible. I should have brought a box of tissues to listen to Ali and tell the story of not just the accident that took her leg, but the tragedy that took her son. They are extraordinary women who make a very, very big contribution in this Parliament. I'm looking forward to working with them. 

GLENDAY: Alright, let's get to policy. I mean, they were very moving speeches. Anyone who hasn't seen them is worth just reflecting on them. It looked as though during the election the Coalition was going to oppose your student debt reduction bill. Seems like they've had a change of heart. Have they pledged to wave that through? 

CLARE: Well, not yet, but I hope they do. You know, this was one of the big promises that we made in the election campaign, that we would cut the student debt of 3 million Australians by 20 per cent. And this will take a weight off the shoulders of a lot of young people right across the country. In particular at elections, young people don't often see themselves on the ballot paper, but they did at this election and they voted for it in their millions. For the average person with a student debt today, this will cut their debt by about five and a half grand. So, there's a lot at stake here and I'm hoping that politicians right across the Parliament will vote for this legislation. 

GLENDAY: Do you have a date? You hope it's in place? Some of those young people have been getting in touch saying, hey, it's gone up because of indexation and I haven't seen this cut yet, but of course it's not law yet. 

CLARE: Yeah, really good question. Thanks for that, mate. So, when the legislation passes, the impact of it will be to backdate that cut to 1 June this year before indexation happened. That will make sure that people get the maximum benefit of the 20 per cent cut, so that the 20 per cent cut is made on what your debt was on the 1st of June before indexation happened. So, first we have to get the legislation through, then the tax office will have to go through the process of cutting the debt based on what your debt was back on the 1st of June. But you won't have to do anything. This will all happen automatically at the Tax Office and you'll get a text message when it happens to tell you that that debt's been cut. 

GLENDAY: There you go. So, sit tight. Though we do appreciate the emails we've been getting. A trickier issue for you is going to be child safety, in particular, child care, because you don't control all the levers. You've got this Bill to terminate subsidies to child care operators doing the wrong thing. First of all, do you expect the Opposition is going to let that sail through as well? 

CLARE: Well, we've been working really professionally and constructively with the Opposition and I do want to thank Sussan Ley, the Opposition Leader, and Jonno Duniam, the Shadow Minister, for the constructive way in which we've been working with them. We've also briefed the Greens. This is too important for politics. Parents across the country aren't interested in us fighting about this. They're not interested in excuses. They just want action. And this legislation is one part of it. I think all Australians have been sickened and appalled by the evidence coming out of Victoria. We need to do everything that we can to rebuild faith and trust in a system that parents need and rely upon. Right across the country, there'll be parents packing bags and getting kids ready for early education and care right now. What this legislation will do is give us the power to cut funding to child care centres that aren't up to scratch, that aren't meeting the sort of minimum standards that parents expect and that our kids deserve. In a sense, it's the biggest weapon that we've got to wield here because taxpayers provide about $16 billion to child care centres every year. That represents about 70 per cent of the funding to run a centre, you know, pays the rent, pays the bills, pays the salaries. So, they can't operate without them. If centres are repeatedly not meeting that standard, I think most mums and dads watching will think it's fair that we should have the power to cut that funding off to make sure that kids are safe. 

GLENDAY: Sussan Ley will be along in a minute. We can ask her as well. I just wanted to know, have you worked out what the threshold for intervention is going to be? Is it going to be 1, 2, 3 strikes for a centre and then you strip the money? 

CLARE: Well, it could be as simple as one. It's important to make the point that regulators have the power to shut a centre right now if they think there's a serious threat to children's safety. But this will also give us the power to issue a show cause notice to a centre to say that we'll shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard or to set conditions on them as well. And we'll work closely with the state regulators who do the work in checking centres to identify the centres that should be the subject of this legislation first, the ones that are repeatedly failing to meet those minimum standards. And I've got to tell you, that work is happening right now with my department and state regulators across the country. 

GLENDAY: Yeah. So, just before I let you go, next month, you can have a big meeting with states and territories. Advocates in this sector say a huge problem is that states and territories and the Commonwealth don't talk to each other. Are we going to see concrete action on things like security cameras, better safety checks, maybe a national worker register for child care operators and workers? 

CLARE: Yeah. This legislation is just one part of the things that we need to do. We'll be talking at that meeting about a national educator register so we can track workers from centre to centre as well as from state to state. I think what's happening in Victoria shows the weakness in that area, but also the role that CCTV can play in deterring bad people from doing bad things and help police with investigations and perhaps most important of all, mandatory child safety training. So, for the 99.9 per cent of workers in our centres who are good people, who care for our kids, you know, whose reputation has been tarnished by what's happening at the moment, who are in the media for all the wrong reasons, to give them the skills that they need to identify people that might be up to no good, who might be trying to target our kids or to try and distract them from the work that they're doing to keep our kids safe. 

GLENDAY: Alright, Jason Clare the Education Minister, you've got a lot on your plate. We do appreciate you making time for us on News Breakfast this morning.