Interview - RN Breakfast

SALLY SARA, HOST: To Federal politics now and the Government will today announce a $3.6 billion top up to the wages of child care workers, extending a 15 per cent pay rise for another two years. The move heads off threats of a nationwide strike from staff in the sector who had been bracing for a pay cut in December. Jess Walsh is the Minister for Early Childhood Education and the Minister for Youth and joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Breakfast.

JESS WALSH, MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND MINISTER FOR YOUTH: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

SARA: This is a stop gap measure until the Fair Work Commission's major pay rise arrives in 2029. Will this top-up payment end at that time or will the Government now permanently subsidise childcare workers?

WALSH: Well, Sally, this is a $255 dollar a week pay rise for our nation's early childhood educators. We are locking in that pay rise into the future and we're funding it with a $3.6 billion investment. I've spoken to educators right across the country about how the pay rise is benefiting them. It's helping them pay their bills, it's helping them save. Importantly, it's helping them stay in jobs that they love. It's great for them and it's great for children too, because we know that the basis of quality early childhood education is a strong, stable, passionate workforce. And that's what this pay rise will help deliver.

SARA: The sector has been rocked by sickening cases of child abuse and poor standards over the past year or two. What does this announcement mean for lifting these standards?

WALSH: Our national child safety package is on track, Sally. We want to make sure that early childhood education is safe and that it's quality for every child. And so, we are linking this pay rise and the funding for it to further reforms on safety as well. As part of the pay rise and the funding, we will require services to meet the national safety standards as a condition of that payment. So, today the vast majority of services do meet those standards – 95 per cent – and that number is going up. It's more than ever before. But we want that number to be even higher because safety of children is the top priority for us. And so, if the service doesn't meet that standard, it won't be able to access the payment for the pay rise. And we want to encourage them to lift their standards to be able to have the payment and pay their educators more.

SARA: Minister, these details were not in the May Budget. When was this decided?

WALSH. So, these details will be in MYEFO. We wanted to get this right. We're investing $3.6 billion in locking in the pay rise for educators - 

SARA: But to bring you back to the question, why was this not in the May Budget? When was it decided?

WALSH: It was decided after the May Budget and it will be fully accounted for in MYEFO. We wanted to get it right, Sally. What we're doing with this announcement is locking in this pay rise, which is paying dividends for early childhood educators and for the sector and for children. We are, as we've just discussed, linking it to further safety reforms in the sector. And importantly, we're also linking it to capping fees for families ongoing, because we want to make sure we keep putting downward pressure on fees for families too.

SARA: One of the conditions of this payment is that child care centres will limit fee increases. How will you guarantee that continues when the two years expires?

WALSH: Well, that's right. Fee capping in the sector has been really successful. We've been able to cap fee growth at around 3.5 per cent as part of the arrangements that are currently in place. And we will continue to require providers to cap fee growth in return for these payments. That will occur over the next two years. We have a service delivery prices project underway, Sally, which is about understanding the true costs of early learning. And that data and that information will help inform any future decisions that we make.

SARA: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is Jess Walsh, the Minister for Early Childhood Education. Minister, earlier in the program this morning, I spoke with Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson about his heated exchange yesterday with your frontbench colleague Amanda Rishworth. This morning, he's doubled down with further disparaging comments about the Minister. Is he setting an appropriate standard for parliamentarians?

WALSH: No, he's not, Sally. And I have seen those comments from this morning and from yesterday, and I find them, quite frankly, weird. And I find them unserious and I find them unbecoming of somebody who would like to be the Treasurer of the nation. Australians do face challenges today. They need a team that is focused on delivering for them, not making weird, inappropriate comments. And I think Mr Wilson would be better placed focusing on getting some policies for the Australian people.

SARA: What did you think of the further remarks today?

WALSH: I thought they were inappropriate. I don't want to repeat the language that he used. They were disparaging. They were, as I said, frankly, weird. They were unserious. And I think Australians deserve better from the person who would like to be the Treasurer of the nation and is putting himself forward for that role.

SARA: Just finally, you're a Senator from Victoria. Yesterday, Victoria's Trades Hall boss, Luke Hilakari, accused Victorian state MPs of not trying hard enough to campaign for the November state election. Are you worried about the position of Jacinta Allan's Labor government?

WALSH: Well, Victorians will have an opportunity to vote in November. As a Commonwealth, we work closely with the Allan Labor government, including on matters in my portfolio in early childhood education and care and we'll continue to work with the Allan Labor government, and the people will make their decision in November.

SARA. So, no support there or saying that that state government is working hard enough?

WALSH: Well, we work well with the Allan Labor government. They are working hard. We are confident in the Premier. We believe she is the best person to lead the state. In my portfolio, Victoria is leading the way in many ways in early childhood education and will continue to work with and support the Premier.

SARA: Jess Walsh, thank you very much for your time this morning.

WALSH: Thanks, Sally.