National Early Years Policy Summit

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on today – the Jagera and Turrbal peoples – and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.

Ministers don’t get to choose their portfolio, but if I did, it would have been Early Childhood Education and Care.

I’m proud to have been an early years advocate for many years, in my time representing educators with the Big Steps campaign - to respect and value this overwhelmingly female workforce.

A workforce that was expected to love their work, but live with their low wages, for way too long.

So it was already an honour to be a member of the Albanese Government team, and to be there in the chamber, with educators in the gallery, when Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced we would fund educators’ historic 15 percent payrise last May.

And it’s a huge honour to continue our work, now as Minister, and to have the job of helping to deliver the Prime Minister’s ambition of universal early education for every child, no matter their postcode or what their parents do.

“Together for our children”

Today marks only five weeks in the job – so I feel like a combination of veteran and new starter.

It is wonderful to have the opportunity to be in a room with so many experts and advocates who have been at the forefront of advancing early childhood development, with such impact. Big congrats to the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children for bringing together an amazing room of leaders.

And I‘m really pleased that you’ll hear tomorrow from my friend and colleague Tanya Plibersek.

The theme of the summit – Together for our children – couldn’t be more appropriate or timely.

And I really look forward to working together with you to extend the benefits of quality early education to more children, in more families, in the locations that need it most.

Value of ECEC – the opportunity

I don’t need to tell people in this room the benefits of giving children the best start in life.

And I don’t need to tell you about the evidence.

We have known the benefits of high quality early learning for decades.

In particular, the importance of play-based learning to support language development, problem-solving, and emotional regulation.

To foster curiosity and confidence.

To ready children for school and for life.

And if high quality early learning is good for all children, we know it is even better for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

So if we care about all children having the best start, we have to care about quality education and care.

I know that for many people in this room, this week’s release of the 2024 Australian Early Development Census only serves to underscore the importance of continued government investment in quality early learning.

There is more to do.

And when there’s work to be done, it’s always important to consider where we’ve come from, to chart the best path forward.

Ambition and past progress

This country has a proud history of great reforms in early education.

Reforms like those of the Rudd-Gillard Government to:
•    Deliver our world-leading National Quality Framework
•    Mandate educator to child ratios
•    Establish minimum qualifications for educators
•    Increase access to early learning for indigenous children
•    And launch the first national curriculum

And as a result of these reforms, the trajectory of quality in early education has consistently been one of improvement, to this day.

These historic reforms happened because of a combination of values and leadership, and unity of purpose.

Values that every child deserves the opportunity to grow and learn and be ready for the future, no matter where they live or what their parents do.

Leadership like that shown by Julia Gillard, Jenny Macklin and Kate Ellis who knew the evidence that early education is a gamechanger, and acted on it.

Leadership reflected in the advocacy of so many in this room, to achieve so much reform in those critical years.  

And unity of purpose, as the sector came together to engage with government to advance their commitment to professionalisation and quality.

Towards universal ECEC

Those same values and leadership have underpinned the work of my colleague and Cabinet Minister Jason Clare and my predecessor Anne Aly who have continued the significant journey of the previous Labor government.

Their focus has been to build out four pillars of universal early education.

And critically, again, the sector has united to embrace reform and make it happen.

In particular, to build the first pillar of reform - a stable and respected workforce.

We know that our 15% payrise is already paying big dividends.

I’ve heard the difference its made again and again as I’ve visited centres. It helps with the bills. It helps educators to save more and stress less.

And by valuing our dedicated educators in their pay packets, we are seeing significant reductions in staff turnover, as educators see a future in the jobs they love.

And that future means more children are enjoying the ongoing relationships and connections with educators that they need to thrive.

It means more quality early education delivered to families.

Second, we are building more affordable early education and care through:
•    Our changes to the Child Care Subsidy. Today a family on $120,000 per year is more than $4,600 better off – having cut their out of pocket costs by more than a third.

•    And through our 3 Day Guarantee replacing the Activity Test - a test which excludes children from early learning based on what their parents do, not what’s best for them.

•    The 3 Day Guarantee will be in effect from January, with an entitlement for every child of 72 hours per fortnight subsidised early learning.   And for First Nations children that is a full 100 hours per fortnight.

The third pillar is building supply in areas that need it the most, with our billion dollar Building Early Education Fund to deliver early learning in underserved areas in outer suburbs and regions.

A big commitment from the Commonwealth to extend early education into those child care deserts that leave so many children behind.

And the final pillar is quality and safety.

There is no quality without a stable workforce that can stay in jobs they love.

And there is no quality without putting safety first.

In recent months we have all seen images which are hard to watch.

It can both be true that the actions we have seen are utterly unacceptable and must be stopped, and that the vast majority of children are safe and well cared for by outstanding professionals.

Professionals who tell me they feel betrayed by what they are seeing and reading.

Yesterday we announced tougher child safety rules that have  been agreed by all governments, including 24 hour mandatory reporting, and restrictions on the use of personal mobile devices in centres.

And, the Commonwealth is exploring using our powers to crack down on dodgy operators that put profit before children’s safety by restricting their access to Commonwealth funding – cutting off the Child Care Subsidy for existing repeat offenders, and preventing further expansion.

Ensuring that children are safe, and that their families are confident of this, underpins everything we are doing now, and all of the reform that we want to lead.

Bringing the system “together for our children” to create change

To conclude, right now, we are building the pillars of universal early education – workforce, affordability, accessibility, and quality.

As we build towards universal early learning and care, we have:
•    A mountain of evidence of the benefits; 
•    Shared values and leadership, in this room and beyond 
•    A sector uniting for reform
•    And – critically - a Prime Minister who sees and understands the benefits of universal early education, and is ready to build on our proud Labor legacy in the early years.

Everyone in this room has a stake in helping to build that future, and nobody can do it alone.

And I know you have many ideas and much expertise to make change happen.

Change that gives children the best start, no matter their postcode or what their parents do.

I look forward to working with all of you to deliver that future.