Press conference - Early Learning Centre, Derby

SABINE WINTON, MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD: What a great day to be in Derby, to realise the aspirations that the local community has had for its families and for its children for a very long time. Of course, today's announcement, over $20 million to construct an early learning centre here for Ngunga, who have been doing incredible work to support family and children, this is such a significant day for the community, one that we’ve worked towards for a long period of time. I want to acknowledge our partners. Early Years Partnership is exactly that – it's a partnership. It's a partnership between State Government and Minderoo and of course, now, the Federal Government. And we're very happy that they've made a significant contribution to bring this aspiration into reality. But at the heart of this, of course, is local people and local knowledge. And that's the heart of what the Early Years Partnership is about, is listening to local voices, listening to what they know that they need to support them in making children strong. And we know the earliest years from a child's life, that critical period between zero and four, has such a significant impact on later success in life and developing their cognitive and emotional and physical skills to set them up for school success and for life. So, it's great to be here.

JOURNALIST: Minister, can you tell me a bit about what this centre will look like when it's up and running? How many spots will be available for children and when is it expected to open?

SABINE WINTON: It'll ultimately have the capacity for some 80 children – 80 children made up of long day care, support, playgroups, after school care, but also, of course, providing that one hub area where other support services can come in to support children and to support families in what is truly a locally-led service, supporting children.

JOURNALIST: Minister, as you're aware, it is quite hard to recruit staff to work in child care in general, especially in remote places like the Kimberley here in Derby. So, what conversations are you having to ensure that this centre will be up and running with enough staff that it needs?

SABINE WINTON: Look, that's why I'm actually particularly excited about this early childhood centre run by Ngunga. We know Ngunga has a long history of providing these services in the town of Derby, and they do it best by supporting and training their local workforce. And I know Rowena mentioned it before, tapping into our State Government initiatives, which is seeing free TAFE courses in areas of work that we know are in high demand. And it is a significant difference when you can get your Cert-III in child care or your diploma in child care for free, when it once cost tens of thousands of dollars. And so I'm looking forward to watching Ngunga’s journey in terms of continuing to develop a local workforce to support children and families.

JOURNALIST: And are you planning for it to also have external workforce? Like people moving to the Kimberley as well to be working here? Or is it mainly going to be local staff?

SABINE WINTON: I have high aspirations, high aspirations for Ngunga. And they have high expectations of themselves that they will be able to support local people taking up local jobs to support local families and local children. That makes sure that we have culturally appropriate services being provided, run by local people, for local people and for local children.

JOURNALIST: I was going to ask about housing, but if it's local, then sort of those housing concerns that we have here in the Kimberley aren't so, you know, different?

SABINE WINTON: You’re absolutely right. Housing is our number one priority as a State Government, whether it's in metropolitan Perth, or young homeowners, or whether it's in the regions where we know it's critically important to support the workforce in key service delivery, whether it's our police, teachers or nurses. One of the best ways we can help to solve those pressures is by skilling, training and employing local people. And Ngunga, can I suggest, is one of the great stories in that regard.

JOURNALIST: Thank you so much. Minister, I might just ask you as well generally about it and then I'll go to some questions. Can you tell me a bit about the federal funding that's gone towards this, and sort of how the decision was made to invest here in Derby from a federal perspective?

JESS WALSH, MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: So, the Albanese Labor Government is really proud to be investing here in Derby and contributing to the creation of a new Early Learning and Family Centre here. We want every child to have the benefits of quality early learning, no matter where they live, and that includes right here in Derby. This is going to be a really special centre for families because the idea of it has come from the community itself, it's come from the Ngunga women's group and we're really proud to be partner with them, the State Government and Minderoo Foundation, in order to make this happen. We have a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund that is all about building services like this around the country. This is the first centre that we are announcing as part of partnership with the Investment Dialogue for Australia's Children. They're our philanthropic partners in this. So, really excited to be here and great to meet some of the mums who are going to benefit from this service. Really important to us that this service comes from the community and will be led by the community because we know for the children in Derby, they'll have a great experience of early childhood education if they're coming to somewhere where they feel welcome, where they feel connected to culture and to community. And we want to help build strong children here in Derby.

JOURNALIST: On the National Continuous Checking Capability, NSW has said there's nothing for them to sign up yet, and the Federal Government said the pilot has been up and running since December. What is your message to the States on this and signing up for this?

WALSH: So, we're standing shoulder to shoulder with the States and Territories to help keep children safe in early learning. It's the top priority for all Education Ministers around the country. Working with Children Checks are a really important part of that. Continuous checking is a really important part of that. We're working with the States and Territories to get that done. At the same time, we're also making sure that if you lose your Working with Children Check in one state, you lose it everywhere. And every State and Territory has now introduced legislation to make that happen. So, it's a big effort, a joint effort between the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories to make the reforms that we need to help keep children safe.

JOURNALIST: And I understand this national system won't be up and running for a few more years. What safeguards are in place now, so it’s a national approach while that system is underway?

WALSH: These are big and complex changes, so it is really important that the Commonwealth, the States and Territories, stand shoulder and shoulder to get them done. In early childhood education, which we're talking about today, if you're prohibited from working in early childhood education in one State or Territory, you are prohibited everywhere. So, if you lose your Working with Children Check as part of early childhood education care around the country, you lose your ability to work anywhere in the country. And that's because we're really determined to have a safe early learning experience for children. Helping children be safe in early learning is our top priority.

JOURNALIST: As that system comes into place though, is there a potential that people could slip through the cracks and might have lost their Working with Children Check in one State and then go on to work?

WALSH: Every State and Territory has brought in legislation already to make sure that we can deliver on banned in one state, banned in all. So those changes are progressing. Continuous checking will be a really important part of that and so too will the first ever nationwide register of early childhood educators, which will be up and running this Friday. So this is a big reform to make sure that we know where our early childhood educators are and that we can watch movements of early childhood educators as they move between centres and around the country. That's a big part of keeping our children safe in early education.

JOURNALIST: Thank you so much. And Minister Winton, are you supportive of the national system to share criminal records across state borders in real-time to help stop [inaudible]?

SABINE WINTON: I'm supportive of all measures that we need to take to make sure that we keep children safe. It is an expectation of parents that when they hand over the most precious item in the world, those children are safe. And I note comments from the Minister, Federal Minister just a moment ago. We're doing great work nationally together to make sure that we fast track the national reforms that are required so that there is confidence and certainty throughout Australia, no matter which [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: A promised national database is at least three years away from working. What is WA State Government doing in the meantime?

SABINE WINTON: Western Australia is fully committed to the national reforms that are in train. Whether it's the national register which will be up and running very soon or whether it's more complex changes that will require legislative changes State by State. Can I also say I think we need to do everything we can from a regulatory point of view, a legislative point of view. But we also need to remember the most important thing we also can do in keeping children safe is to continue to back and support and to train our educators. They are critically important to keeping children safe. More eyes in the room means better safety for children. And so, I welcome all of those initiatives nationally, which we've backed in. Whether it's mandatory training, whether it's the Albanese Government being the first government in a long time to give a significant wage increase to value those workers and for them to continue to do the important work they do.

JOURNALIST: Just last one then. Figures were released recently in State Parliament about a number of teachers in the Kimberley and other parts of the region being housed in temporary housing including motels and caravan parks due to a housing shortage. There was 80, almost 80 Kimberley teachers that were filled in those stats. What I guess is your government doing in terms of collaborating with the housing portfolio to ensure that that isn't the case moving forward?

SABINE WINTON: Thank you so much for the question, because it's been a question for a long time. You know, I was in the Kimberley teaching in the 90s and housing was an issue then and it continues to be an issue. But it's also the most important thing that we can do to make sure that we attract and retain teachers in regional towns. Put more investment into GROH housing than ever before. In fact, just in last year's Budget, $100 million to build 100 new homes. In respect of the statistics that the Opposition spokesperson quotes, you also need to see the full figure. We need to consider the overall number of teachers and people within the education that are in the GROH system are over 2500 people. And at any given point in time there are a small number of people that need to be accommodated in temporary arrangements for small periods of time. And so, my advice is, for example I think last week the latest advice is that there are 15 teachers around the state last week that were being accommodated in temporary accommodation. It's not ideal, but it's temporary, in the short term. So, for some of those people, it might be a week because they're waiting to get into the flooded community, or in other instances, it might be a bit longer because some significant maintenance work is being done. We are doing everything we can to continue to invest in GROH housing in our regional towns because we know how important teachers and, and all government employees are to thriving communities.