Transcript - Press Conference
SENATOR HELEN POLLEY: I want to first of all welcome my very good friend Minister for Education Jason Clare. He's a fantastic Minister. He gets how important education is and we know that our Government has invested a lot of money but I'd like to also acknowledge Libby, the centre manager, who has spoken at times about looking to what comes next and she has done such an amazing job with this centre being here for 19 out of the last 20 years and the role that this centre with Libby and also Belinda who is an early educator in the centre, came to this centre and started her career as a cook and now leading the way and is one of the beneficiaries of what our Government through Minister Clare and Anthony Albanese is delivering across the country. But thank you for being here and I'd like to now welcome Minister Clare.
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks very much, Helen. It's fantastic to be here in Tassie and thanks for welcoming us to Goodstart, who do such sensational work not just here in Tassie but right across the country.
I think you've seen from the visit today what early education is all about. This misnomer that this is babysitting is just plain wrong. This isn't babysitting, it's not childcare, it's early education. Everything that children get to experience and learn here prepares children to go to school.
Actually, a lot of the children who are here this morning are at school already two or three days a week and then here for the other parts of the week. And it's all preparation for life. Everything that a child experiences here at Goodstart in Launceston, every meal they have, every smile they see, every book that's read to them shapes and changes and makes the young person that they become, it helps to make sure that they get off to a good start. The name on the door is absolutely right.
This is why we are investing in early education. One of the things we promised at the last election was to cut the cost of early education and we've done that. For an average family on say a combined income of $120,000, we've cut the cost of their childcare if they've got one child in care three days a week by about two grand a year. And that makes a big difference to people with their weekly and their monthly and their annual budget.
The next thing we've got to do is make sure that we pay our early educators properly. That we pay them something more like what they deserve. Our early educators - and there's more than 200,000 of them around the country and Belinda is just one of the wonderful examples of our early educators in Australia - do some of the most important work in this country. And to be frank they're some of the most underpaid. Over the last few years, we've seen a lot of people leave the job they love because they can't afford to keep doing it and so they'll go off and work at Woollies or at Coles or at Bunnings. Not because they don't love this job, not because they don't care about these children or know that they're doing important work, but because they can't afford to keep doing it and that's what the 15 per cent pay rise is about fixing. It's about showing a bit of respect, acknowledging how important this work is, providing a bit of cost-of-living relief and a bit of financial support to put money in your pocket, in your purse, in your wallet.
The fact is about 90 to 95 per cent of our workers in our early education centre are women. And so, it's a great investment and a sign of respect for Australian women as well. There's legislation in the Federal Parliament now to make this a reality. It's in the House of Representatives. We hope when Parliament goes back it will go to the Senate and be passed by the Australian Parliament before the first of December when we want the first of this pay rise to become a reality. The first of December a 10 per cent pay rise and then another 5 per cent pay rise next December. What this means for the average early educator is an extra 100 bucks in your pocket before Christmas every week. It will make a difference to help pay the bills.
It's just one of the things that we are doing in early education, I've also now got and just released the Productivity Commission Report on how we build a universal early education system. How we make the next big step to make sure that we are setting young people up like the children that we are seeing here today - it's Clarabel right, how can I forget that name - for the future that they deserve. How do we make sure that we set these children up for the future that they deserve and for the children that aren't here. That Productivity Commission Report tells us that the most disadvantaged children in this country are the ones who will benefit the most from services like this but are the ones that are the most unlikely to be here. So, it sets out a series of recommendations about how we can make sure that they get here, that they get a good start and that they don't start school behind, and we'll respond to that report in the next few months.
BELINDA MCFERRAM, EARLY EDUCATOR: 20 years ago I started here as a cook five days a week. Then I had my son, so I took a year off, in that time Libby had spoken with me asking if I would like to start looking after children on the floor, get my Cert Three so I did that in a year. And then took a year off from that to look after the children and then did my diploma. Now I have become a room leader, also a safety champion for the centre, I also look after the kitchen, head of that as well, so it's been pretty busy.
JOURNALIST: How much of a difference will this 10 and then 15 per cent make to you and your family?
MCFERRAM: Heaps. To be able to provide more for my children, get a house loan and all that sort of stuff, that's what the aim is for my two children and the granddaughter.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it's enough?
MCFERRAM: It will be a starting point. Yes.
JOURNALIST: I guess, do you think the government is listening to your concerns and similar educators?
MCFERRAM: I think they're starting to listen now, yes, and we're slowly getting what we deserve.
JOURNALIST: Does this pay rise encourage you to keep working in this industry.
MCFERRAM: Yes, it does, yep. I reckon I'll probably be here for another two years.
JOURNALIST: I guess how do you go managing all the hats that you wear? Is that normal?
MCFERRAM: Yeah, I do a lot of things here and then I do a lot of things outside of here as well. So, I seem to manage pretty well in all the time I'm here, I ask for help, and I delegate sometimes.
JOURNALIST: And would you encourage maybe a younger you to come into this industry?
MCFERRAM: Yes, I would. I spoke with a few that are doing childcare at school and all that. Told them, you know, try and get into childcare, come down do work experience and all that and see if you really like it.
JOURNALIST: I guess what would you say is the best part of your job?
MCFERRAM: Seeing the children smile, coming in happy, and leaving happy or not wanting to leave, yep.
JOURNALIST: Perfect, thank you.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask a question, because it just occurred to me you have been here for 18, 19 ‑
MCFERRAM: 20 years.
JOURNALIST: So you've had children come to you who are now adults? From many years ago.
MCFERRAM: Yes and I do see some of them and some of the parents and then they show me photos and all that.
JOURNALIST: That's awesome.
MCFERRAM: You’re making me look old.
JOURNALIST: How rewarding is the fruits of your labour, that you are guiding the next generation through?
MCFERRAM: Well to me I think what we do is actually changing all the lives of the children, giving them something better. As we are saying some children can't come to childcare, they can't afford it and do all that sort of stuff, so seeing these ones - and I also do sport, I teach there as well.
JOURNALIST: Thank you very much.
POLLEY: The other thing though I think that people should remember is a lot of times the children spend more time with the likes of Belinda and Libby than they do with their own family so they have a lifelong impact on developing those children. So it's very important.
JOURNALIST: As we just heard from Belinda the government is on the right track, do you think 15 per cent is enough?
CLARE: I think it's a big increase. Just to put it in perspective this is $3.6 billion over the next two years so that's a massive investment and it's a sign of how much we respect the work that our early educators do. And it's the result of a lot of work that's been done by the UWU, the union that represents early educators, as well as businesses like Goodstart that we have worked with over the last 12 months on this. You asked in your last question about that special relationship that early educators have. I've got two kids, seven-year-old and a three-year-old. When I told the seven-year-old that he's going to be a big brother, the first thing he said was I can't wait to tell Kelly. I didn't expect that that was going to be his answer to ‘hey you are going to be a big brother’. His first response was to say he wanted to tell Kelly and you can guess who Kelly is. So, it's to your point about the special relationship, the time the young people spend with their educators and Kerry, the woman who looks after my little one, not Kelly, said to me when I told her about this pay rise she said something a little bit like Belinda, she said ‘maybe I won't quit’. We don't have enough early educators. We are really hoping that this 15 per cent pay rise will encourage people here in Tassie and right across the country who might have left this job to come back.
JOURNALIST: Just a couple from Canberra. This is a long one: A new report warns AUKUS Pillar one costs could reduce Australia's military budget and ultimately our capabilities in deterring China. Will the Australian government consider this report and the alternative plan which would see America own submarines, only to be operated by Australia?
CLARE: I haven't seen that report, I'll refer that to the Minister for Defence.
JOURNALIST: Okay, and Australia's private hospitals say the sector is financially unsustainable and that some hospitals are at risk of closing down because insurers aren't paying enough. Can the Labor Government commit to reforms to keep the sector going ‑ sorry I've got a cold - to keep the sector going including capping capital requirements and introduce a new investigative independent body?
CLARE: Yeah, similar sort of answer, I haven't seen that either but happy to refer that to the Minister for Health.
JOURNALIST: Okay and then just the state government is holding an enquiry into the state's education system led by an expert named Vicki Bayliss, do you think this will help to improve our state's educational outcomes?
CLARE: I want to build a better and a fairer education system not just here in Tasmania but right across the country. And that means big reforms in early education and I've talked a little bit about that today but it also means big reforms in our schools, and I was so proud along with Helen to be with the Prime Minister and the Premier a couple of weeks ago when we were here announcing the agreement that the two governments have signed to get all schools to that full funding level and we are working on the final details of that now with the state government that I look forward to sharing with you when we finalise that.
But we also need to reform higher education, universities too. What I really want when I talk about a better and a fairer education system is more young people to get access to early education, more young people to start school ready to learn.
The thing that keeps me up at night more than anything else is that over the last ten years, we've seen a drop in the number of people finishing high school particularly in public schools. We've seen a drop from 83 per cent to 73 per cent.
And we live in a country now where more and more jobs require you to finish school and not just finish school but then go on to TAFE or to university so those reforms need to be about helping more kids to catch up when they're little and finish high school and then get a crack at uni or a crack at TAFE. And you will see some of that later on this morning when we are over at UTAS in the new building that we are opening there and having those facilities to enable people in the north to be able to do a degree in the north, so important.
I'll just give one example. I hear stories all the time from people in Launnie about how their children have to go to Melbourne or Hobart to study the course they want to do. If you want to be a pharmacist, if you want to be a chemist in Launnie, until now you have been able to do a couple of years of a degree up here in the north and then you had to go to Hobart. That all changes next year because of the new building, the new facility that we are opening here in Tassie today. Do you want to add to that at all?
POLLEY: I don't have to tell you all that we have seriously low numeracy and literacy skills in this state. So this money that we are putting in, what I'm most proud of though Minister, is the early intervention because we are going to give our kids the opportunity and it helps our economy, the investment that we make here is really about our future all of our futures going in to supporting not only the children but also the teachers and these early childhood educators so being part of a government that's actually investing in all of our futures is really important and I know Tasmanians are looking for that support.
CLARE: You've got to act early. I think that's maybe the key message out of your question is that I said one in three children from poor families are below the global literacy standard when they're little. Only 20 percent of those children have caught up by the time they're 15. So that's why it's so important to act early, identify children who are behind when they're little and intervene early with things like catch up tutoring where a child's taken out of a classroom with 25 or 30 children and they get half an hour a day of intensive support with two or three other children. So they're the sort of things that we want to fund and I want to take my hat off and thank the state government as well because this is a really, really good example of Labor and Liberal working together and the Commonwealth government and the state governments working together in the interests of our kids.
JOURNALIST: There's also money, Minister to help young people particularly through high school, some of the challenges that they have with health, with anxiety, that early intervention in that space is going to be so beneficial.
CLARE: That money will get invested there as well, if you talk to teenagers and ask them what's the biggest issue on their mind, more often than not they'll tell you mental health, that before they're ready to learn it's all the other challenges in their life. So, this money could also be invested in things like psychologists and counsellors and occupational therapists who can provide extra support for students at school. There is a real and obvious link between how you go at school and your physical or your mental health. If you are unwell then you are more likely to not be at school and you are more likely to be behind other children at school.
POLLEY: I have met so many Tasmanians and even from my own family's point of view, there's been many ‑ at least three or four generations in my family that never had the opportunity to do university. So our eldest daughter was the first in our family, the second in my husband's family to have the opportunity as migrant family immigrating here to have their sixth child having the opportunity to go to university, but also with the situation where my youngest daughter was an early childhood educator. And she is a prime example of why she left the sector, and how she has now gone in to working with children in primary schools with their educational needs. So I asked her today would you come back to the sector and she said yes I would, the reality is though that it's very difficult financially with the family. So that's why the money invested is so important. Because when you walk through the centre the thing that gets me every time is how secure and loved and supported these children are, I think it's the best-behaved kids, in terms of having all of you here [indistinct].
CLARE: Sat through a half an hour press conference.
POLLEY: So again, Libby and the team thank you so much.
JOURNALIST: Just a quick one for you Helen if that's okay. Tanya Plibersek came to the state to announce funding for wharf upgrades, but dodged questions around the future of salmon farming on the west coast. Are you advocating for an answer on that as soon as possible or will it become an election issue?
POLLEY: As I've said many, many times, the Tasmanian senators are ‑ Julie Collins as Minister who also has part responsibility in this area now and Bryan Mitchell - And Minister Clare can back this up ‑ we Tasmanians, we hunt as a pack. And there is no doubt in my mind at all that not only does Tanya Plibersek know where we stand but the Prime Minister has been here and he has reinforced the support that he has for the salmon industry and for those working in the sector. We've got to remember that industry takes money into regional Tasmania and supports communities with really well-educated jobs and giving the people the opportunity to actually live and stay in regional Tasmania. So there is no doubt whatsoever that the Albanese Labor government and the Tasmanian Labor senators and House of Reps members we are fully supportive of that industry. Please follow my social media you will get my messages.
ENDS