Transcript - Press conference

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks very much for coming along today. We've got a good education system in Australia, but the truth is it can be a lot better and much fairer. That's true in higher education, it's also true in school education, it's also true in early education and care. 
Over the last two years, we've cut the cost of early education and care for more than a million Australian families. And now we've got legislation in the Parliament to put a cap on prices, but to also increase the salaries of early educators and early education teachers by 15 per cent. 
There are more workers in early education and care today than there were when we came to office. There are also more children in education and care and there's more centres. But there's also more work that we need to do and that's why this report, the Productivity Commission's report that Anne and I are releasing today, is so important. 
The truth is, what the workers behind us do is not baby-sitting. It's early education and care. Everything that they do shapes and makes the people that we become. They help to prepare our children for school, make sure that they're ready for school. And what this report says is that a universal early education system is one where every child gets access to three days a week, or 30 hours a week of high-quality education and care, and that every parent can afford for their child to get access to that three-days a week, or 30 hours a week of high-quality education and care. And it sets out a roadmap for how we might be able to achieve that over the next decade or so.

What the report also says, what it really underlines is, at the moment, it's children from the most disadvantaged families that are the most likely to benefit from early education and care and the least likely to access it today. And it sets out a bunch of recommendations to help to fix that.

We're not responding to the recommendations in the report today, we're releasing it because we want to hear what Australia thinks of this report and in particular, we want to hear from early educators, we want to hear from teachers, we want to hear from the people that provide this essential service to Australian families on all of the recommendations in this report, and then we'll respond to it in the next few months or so.

I might hand over to Anne and then we're both happy to take questions.  

ANNE ALY, MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Great, thanks, Jason. Can I first of all say it's wonderful to be here at the ECA conference. It's the third time that I've been to this conference and as everyone here knows, I'm a bit of a nerd and so conferences are a bit like Disneyland to me, so I'm really happy to be here.

When we first came into Government, we knew that the early childhood education and care system was working, but it wasn't working for everyone. It wasn't working for every parent, and it certainly wasn't working for every child. And so we embarked on steps to reform.

The very first thing we did, of course, was make early childhood education and care cheaper. We made it cheaper for over 1 million families right across Australia and the ACCC review told us that it brought down out-of-pocket expenses by around 11 per cent for families across Australia.

The second thing that we did was quite recently, introduce legislation to increase the wages of our early childhood education and care workers by 15 per cent; 10 per cent this year, and another 5 per cent next year. Because we know that, first of all, recognising the professionalism that these people do is absolutely essential and it's about time they got recognised for being the professionals that they are, but also that if we want to chart that pathway to a universal early childhood education and care system, the first thing we need to do is make sure that we have a strong, sustainable, and supported workforce.  

We also introduced $72 million worth of professional development and paid practicums for early childhood educators as well as free TAFE, which has now seen an increase in the number of early childhood educators since we were last in government.

At the same time, we asked the ACCC to do a review for us, and the Productivity Commission, to give us some guidance on how we can get to that universal early childhood education system. A system where every child, no matter who they are, no matter what their background, no matter where they live, has access to quality and affordable early childhood education and care.

And this is what the Productivity Commission has given us: 56 recommendations, which we will go over, that will take us to that shared vision, a vision that we share with every single person attending this conference today. We've had many conversations, many conversations over the last two years, two and a half years or so with everybody here. We share that vision that every child in Australia, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter what their background, should have access to affordable, inclusive, early childhood education and care.

We're on that path. We've chartered that path and we're on that pathway, and as Jason mentioned, this is long-term reform. This is, as the Productivity Commission recommends as well, this is 10-year reform. But I am proud to stand here next to the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and with all of these amazing early childhood educators, and in front of the many professionals that are here today at this conference and walk hand-in-hand with them as we make our way to that universal early childhood education system that will be world number-one quality right across Australia for every child, for every parent, for every community. Thank you.  

JOURNALIST: Will you be taking the universal childcare policy to the next election?  

CLARE: What I've said is that we will review the recommendations in this report. You can see it's a pretty chunky report. You could use it as a doorstop or you could bench press it or you could go through it and make sure that we identify what are the things that we need to do to make sure that we set our children, the next generation, up for success. And that's what we're doing now. Going through all of the recommendations.

I said that we would respond to this report in the next few months. What's recommended here would require a significant additional investment in our children. At the moment, the Child Care Subsidy means that we provide about $12 billion of support to parents and support to families every year. The recommendations about the Child Care Subsidy would see that increase from $12 billion to $17 billion, and then there's other recommendations there that would require additional investment as well – around the Activity Test, around inclusion, around developing centres where they don't exist at the moment.

But we're also very conscious of this: That early education and care helps parents, helps families to go back to work, in particular working mums. It helps our children because it provides them with the education that they need to be ready for school, but it also helps all of us. The US President makes the point that a child that goes to preschool is 50 per cent more likely to go to university, or to college.

So these recommendations aren't just about the million families that benefit from early education and care at the moment, or the children that do, or could do, because, remember, this report reminds us that there are children at the moment who are missing out, about one in ten children aged four, about one in four children aged three that are missing out at the moment, particularly children from poor families and from the regions, particularly children with additional needs. But this is also about all of us, and the sort of country that we can build, the sort of next generation that we can build by making sure that we get the policy right.

In higher education, it's young people from poor families and from the regions who are most likely to miss out. In school education, it's children from poor families and the regions who are least likely to finish high school, and this report is telling us the same thing, that it's children from poor families from the regions, children with additional needs who are most likely to miss out. So there is a common thread here in the recommendations of the three reports I've released, and in the work that we are doing, to help them build a better and a fairer education system.
 
JOURNALIST: The costs are skyward of $17 billion to introduce [indistinct].

CLARE: What the report says is the cost to change the Child Care Subsidy from what it is at the moment, about $12 billion a year, to what's recommended in this report, would be about $17 billion a year when fully implemented.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you have an idea about universal childcare, what that would cost?

CLARE: What the report is saying is you need to do a number of different things in order to make sure that every child gets access to three days or 30 hours a week. One of the things it recommends is changes to the Child Care Subsidy. It also recommends other changes as well, in particular to the Activity Test, but also making early education and care more available where it doesn't exist at the moment. So all up, it would require a substantial investment. It's not just an investment in the children who are there at the moment, it's an investment in our future.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, if it's so important, why are you kicking the can down the road, so to speak, in terms of a 10-year timeline, because based on the Productivity Commission timeline for universal free education for every child between zero and 3, they're talking about a child born today will be in high school before [indistinct].

CLARE: To be fair, Natasha, what this report says is that we do need to develop a long-term plan, a 10-year plan. They say that reform should be phased to make sure that the children who need these reforms the most aren't crowded out and that we do need to stage reform.

For example, in its interim report, and Anne touched on that a moment ago, the Productivity Commission made the point that the first thing that we need to do is ensure that early educators get a pay rise, because that will help to deal with attrition. It will also encourage more early educators to stay.

First thing we need to do is to build the workforce, so more children can go to early education and care and more parents can benefit from early education and care and go back into the paid workforce. So what this report is telling us, is that reform is needed, and it's telling us that we need to stage that out over 10 years, and it plots a path, when you look through the executive summary, you will see the details of that.
 
JOURNALIST: Will you get rid of the Activity Test?

CLARE: I'm not responding to the recommendations today. I'm releasing the recommendations for all of Australia to give us feedback on it, in particular the educators here who work in the sector, who know how important the children that they care for and that they educate are, and know better than most of us what the reforms are that are needed to set this sector up for the future.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask you a more [indistinct] question then. The report says children's participation in ECEC should not depend on their parents' activity in response to the Activity Test. Do you agree with that as a first principle?

CLARE: We've already made changes to the Activity Test, directly assisting Indigenous children. It was one of the first things that I did as Minister for Education, working with Anne Aly, the Minister for Early Childhood Education. And I think I've made the point in an answer to Natasha just a moment ago, about the fact that this report tells us that it's kids from poor families, kids from the regions, kids with additional needs who are the most likely to benefit from early education and care, and currently are the least likely to access it. If we can do something about that, that helps more children to start ready for school when they're 5, then that would be a significant reform.

Now, the report recommends a number of things that are needed here. It talks about the Activity Test. It also talks about making early education and care free for families on low incomes. We need to look at all of these recommendations, cost them properly and then we'll respond in the next few months.
 
JOURNALIST: Time before the election to respond?

CLARE: There will there be an election in the next 12 months. I said that we'll respond to this report in the next few months or so.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you support cancelling the Activity Test for all the children whose parents aren't employed?  

CLARE: That's the same question, Natasha. I think I've answered it.  

JOURNALIST: [indistinct] for all low-income families?  

CLARE: Same question, same answer.
 
JOURNALIST: Do State Governments need to start building their own early childhood centres within schools, which is a policy that Julia Gillard came out with?  

CLARE: They're doing it now, Natasha. If you look at what's happening in New South Wales, they've just announced the construction of 100 preschools on public school grounds and they've, I think in their most recent Budget, released the locations of those preschools and those early education centres in public schools in New South Wales. I think the Victorian Government is doing something similar.
 
JOURNALIST: Speaking of public schooling…

CLARE: Neat segue there, I like it.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you here to see Di Farmer, the Queensland Minister, because your deadline for States to sign onto that public agreement is two weeks away?

CLARE: I won't see Di today. She was here a bit earlier. I didn't get a chance to catch up with her this morning. But we are in regular contact.
 
JOURNALIST: Is this starting to get through, this funding deal, or will the schools be basically starved of extra funding because no-one can agree?

CLARE: I've got $16 billion of additional funding on the table for our public schools, and I'm hoping that the States will come to the table and accept that additional funding. That's not a blank cheque. That's money tied to real reform, that will help children who fall behind when they're little at school to catch up and to keep up and to finish school. We've done a deal with the Northern Territory, we've done a deal with Western Australia. I would like to do a deal with other States across the country.
 
JOURNALIST: But are you moving in your negotiations because no-one's been [indistinct] so will kids go to school next year and there's no extra funding?

CLARE: There's going to be extra funding in WA, and I would like to do a deal with other States and Territories to get extra funding. That's why that money's on the table. I'm going to shortly introduce legislation into the Parliament to get rid of the cap that stops the Commonwealth Government from providing more than 20 per cent of funding for public schools, and turn that ceiling into a floor, and that's legislation that would enable additional funding for public schools right across the country from next year.

But in order for that to happen, I've got to sign an agreement with the States and Territories, like the one I've already done with the Northern Territory and with WA, and I'm hopeful that States will be keen to do a deal with the Commonwealth to see additional funding for their public schools.
 
SPEAKER: Will you increase your offer?

CLARE: I'm not going into the details of the negotiations.  

JOURNALIST: Just a separate one, Minister, on the changes to Instagram. So, they've announced a hardline approach to keep underage users safe on the platform. Does this change anything about the need for hard age limits for social media in Australia?

CLARE: No, it doesn't. It's in the right direction but it doesn't go as far as what the Government wants to do, and I might ask Anne to add to this because, as Minister for Youth, she sees that in a very palpable way. Certainly, you know, I know through the changes that we've made already to ban mobile phones in schools, and that came in as recently as this year in Queensland, we've seen a remarkable change in our schools.

Getting phones out of children's hands, not just in the classroom but in the playground, has meant children are more focused in the classroom, but also means they're noisier in the playground, that children are talking to each other and playing with each other. They're not doing what all the adults out of camera shot at the moment are doing, looking at their phones.

But of course, the phone gets handed back or comes out of the bag at the end of the school day and so children then dive back into that cesspit of social media that can have such a terrible impact on their mental health. And the evidence is in. It doesn't just affect young people's mental health, but it also affects their academic achievement.

The more young people are spending time, whether it's on social media or gaming into the wee hours of the night, then the worst their results are in the classroom. And so there is a real benefit for us here as a country, in creating a healthier and a better country, if we've got children out in the playground and outside on the footy field or on the netball court, not stuck on their phones, not just in terms of their mental health, but also in terms of the results in the classroom. Anne.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think [indistinct]? Do you think they will make a difference?

ALY: I think that every parent, every teacher, every grandparent knows the negative impacts that social media can have on children. I think in cases like this, and research from around the world confirms this, is that the social media companies are going to resist any kind of form of legislation or regulation and propose voluntary type of measures. That does not exclude the responsibility of government to keep children safe. So while they may have some impact, what Instagram is proposing, it certainly does not exclude or abrogate the responsibility of government to keep children safe through having what we've proposed, age verification, and legislation on social media use for children.  

CLARE: Thanks very much, guys.