Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

Let me begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

There is really only one job in politics I have ever wanted. And this is it. 

There is one reason more than anything else I wanted to do it. 

To do what we are doing right now.

Fixing the funding of our public schools and what it will do.

I don’t think there’s anything more important than what we do in education. 

It doesn’t just change lives. 

Its impact ricochets through generations. If you finish school, your kids are more likely to finish school.

It changes communities too and it changes countries. It’s changed ours. 

And public education does most of that heavy lifting. 

It’s where you’ll find the most disadvantaged children in this country. The children who need our help the most. 

And these are the schools that are most underfunded. 

Where the challenges are the greatest. Where the need is the greatest. 

This is what we’ve got to fix. We have got a long way to go, but a lot has happened in the last 12 months.  

This time last year I talked about the agreement I had just signed with Western Australia. 

That extra funding is now in WA schools. 

Last year I also reached agreements Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. 

And that funding is also now rolling out. 

There’s no public school in the country, apart from the ACT, where funding is at the Gonski level yet.

And there’s no public school in the country where the disadvantage is as bad or the funding is as low as the Northern Territory. 

Until this agreement. 

It was sitting at less than 80 per cent of the SRS. 

In other words, one in five children in the Northern Territory were effectively not being funded at all. 

This agreement fixes that. 

It doubles the amount of money that the Australian Government puts into public schools in the Northern Territory.

It means instead of reaching full funding in the second half of this century. 

They will reach it in the next few years.   

It means that some of the most disadvantaged public schools in this country will now be some of the best funded.

That’s the sort of thing that will change lives. 

It is the sort of thing that only Labor Governments do.

And since I last spoke at this conference, something else just as important has happened. 

We’ve doubled what we’re offering the states. 

We will fund the full 5 per cent. What you’ve always asked for. 

In return, we want the states to get rid of the 4 per cent that is spent on things like capital depreciation – what you have also been calling for. 

That’s a big shift. 

And South Australia has signed up to that, Victoria has signed up to that too and so has Western Australia. 

And I want to do the same across the country. 

This is a big change, that you have made happen. 

It still involves the Australian Government and state governments both chipping in. 

And it still means tying that funding to the sort of things that we know will help children who need extra help and support.

The sort of things that you’ve been calling for and asking for. 

Things like extra funding for catch-up tutoring and mental health support.

And it means being able to see where that money is going. Making sure it goes where it’s needed. The sort of transparency that you’ve been asking for. 

That’s where we stand today. 

I can promise you as long as I am in this job, I will not stop fighting for this.

What I can’t promise you is that this will survive if Peter Dutton becomes Prime Minister. 

That’s not a threat, it’s just the truth. 

You just have to look at what they did last time.

They ripped the guts out of funding for public schools.

The legislation we have put in place last year will make it hard for him, but not impossible.

The fact is if he wins he could still reverse that and rip this funding out.

That’s the truth. 

There is a lot more to do, I know that, but there is also a lot to fight to keep. 

I don’t think it is over the top to say that the future of public education is at stake. 

If this funding gets ripped out again, inevitably it means more kids will leave the public education system. More teachers will leave too, and more kids won’t finish high school. 

Our schools will become even more segregated than they are today. 

I know you know this, that’s why you’ve been fighting for this when others haven’t. 

Fighting for this for more than a decade. Keeping the cause alive. 

This wouldn’t be happening without you, that’s the truth. But the fight isn’t over yet. 

Something else I want to talk about today. Something worth celebrating. 

That’s the pay rises in the last 12 months in NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and the NT and the impact they are having. 

And the agreements you’ve struck that make a dent in things like workload. Things like more school development days, extra admin support and things like the right to disconnect.

I remember a primary school teacher telling me once that he carried 30 parents around in his pocket.  

And that high school teachers carry more than 100. 

They send him messages often late at night. Not thinking they are bothering him, but that’s just when they’ve got a spare minute when the kids are asleep, but still his phone would ping. 

That’s what the right to disconnect is all about. That’s why the agreements like the one struck in NSW are so important. 

There was some good news on Monday that shows the number of teachers last year jumped by about 8,000. That’s good. 

It doesn’t mean we don’t still have serious teacher shortages, of course we do, but what it shows, I think, is if you pay people more and respect the work they do, more people want to do the job and more people are likely to stay. 

You can also see the signs of this in the number of people enrolling in teaching courses this year – up 14 per cent. 

I’ve got to think that’s helped by pay increases, the agreements, but also things like the new Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships – worth about 40 grand or twice the cost of a teaching degree.

It’s an old school idea that we’ve brought back – we help you cut the costs while you are at uni and you pay it back by working in the public school system when you graduate. 

And from 1 July this year, for the first time ever, we’ll start providing financial support for teaching students while they do their prac.

It all helps. It’s all important. 

I’m not saying all the problems, all the challenges, all the shortages are fixed – they’re not, of course they’re not, but finally, for the first time in a long time things are starting to head in the right direction. 

Something else I want to mention today and that’s what we are doing before kids ever start kindy or prep, before they step into your classrooms. 

I think you know what I am about to say, education doesn’t start at 5 and what we do here, in those first five years, has a big impact on the sort of challenges school teachers face. 

And just like there’s a shortage of teachers in our schools, there’s a real shortage of early educators. 

A big part of that is just people leaving. 

When we won the election two and half years ago, they were leaving in droves.

Many just because they couldn’t afford to keep doing it. They could earn more at Coles or Woolies or Bunnings. 

That’s now changing. 

And that’s because of the 15 per cent pay rise that we’re now rolling out. 

The best example of that is what’s happening at Goodstart, the biggest childcare operator in the country.

At their centres job applications have now jumped by 35 per cent in the last few months. 

Expressions of interest have jumped by 50 per cent, and vacancy rates are down by a massive 28 per cent. 

We’re seeing that sort of thing right across the country.

Again, it turns out that, if you pay people more, more want to do the job.

And last week we did something else. We passed laws that will change the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in Australia. 

You know these kids. The first time they step into a classroom environment is when they get to school. 

They never experience early education or don’t get enough of it. 

One of the reasons for that is a thing called the Activity Test. Something put in place by the Liberal Party that meant parents couldn’t get the Child Care Subsidy. 

And it meant that their kids start school behind. 

The legislation we passed through Parliament last week gets rid of that test and replaces it with a three day guarantee. 

A guarantee of three days a week of government supported early education and care for every child who needs it. 

No one blinks when you say every child has a right to go to school and government has a responsibility to help fund it. 

The same has got to be true for early education. That doesn’t mean it should be compulsory. But it should be there for every parent who wants it and every child who needs it. 

To help make sure they start school ready to go. 

And that’s what happened last week.

Again, that’s the sort of reform that only Labor Governments do. And that our country needs. 

I know there is more to do. 

I don’t have to convince you of that. 

And I don’t expect you to stop fighting for it. 

I hope you don’t.  I know you won’t. 

So let me end by just saying thank you. 

Thank you for everything you do. 

Thank you for working with me over the last two and half years. 

And thank you for what you are about to do. 

To help make sure that Peter Dutton doesn’t get the chance to do a Tony Abbott 2.0 and rip everything we have done away.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

Ask any parent, and they’ll tell you early education and care is an essential service. It helps them get back to work and helps their children get ready for school. Under
the Liberals the cost went through the roof and the rules were tightened to make it harder for some children to get the start in life they deserve. We’re fixing that.

Over 10 years the cost of child care exploded by more than 49 per cent—double the OECD average—under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. We said we’d cut the cost of child care and we have, for more than one million families right across the country. As a result of the changes we made and passed through this Parliament two years ago, a family on a joint income of about $120,000 has saved $2,768 since July 2023. That’s helped a lot of parents get back to work and put more money in their pockets, and it’s meant more children are now getting the benefits of our early education system. The number of children in our early education system is now about 100,000 more than it was when we were elected 2½ years ago. That’s a good thing. There are also 1,000 more centres and more services. That’s good, too.

When we came to office 2½ years ago, something else was happening. The people who educate and care for our children were leaving the sector in droves. They were leaving the job that they loved. The attrition rate was through the roof. That’s now changed, too. The reason for that is the 15 per cent pay rise that we’re now rolling out. The best example of that is what’s happening at Goodstart Early Learning, the biggest childcare operator in the country. At their centres, across the country, job applications have now jumped by 35 per cent. Expressions of interest have jumped by 50 to 60 per cent, and vacancy rates are down by a massive 28 per cent. We’re seeing that right across the country. Vacancy rates right across the sector are now down by 22 per cent. It turns out that, if you pay people more, more want to do the job. Early educators are some of the most important workers in this country and some of the most underpaid. They were leaving the job that they love, the job that we need them to, not because they didn’t want to do it but because they couldn’t afford to keep doing it. That 15 per cent pay increase is fixing that.

The next step in making our early education system better and fairer is making sure that more children who currently can’t get access to it get that chance. In February 2023, we asked the Productivity Commission to comprehensively review our early education system. We asked them to help build a blueprint for reform and tell us how we can build a truly universal early education system. We got their final report in June of last year. One of the things it says that we have to do if we want to build that universal early education system is build more centres where they don’t exist, what are sometimes referred to as ‘childcare deserts’. We’re doing that. In December, the Prime Minister announced that, if we win the next election, the government will create a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund. This will be the single biggest ever investment by an Australian government in new childcare services. It will build or expand over 160 early education and care centres where they’re needed most. I want to thank GrainGrowers, who said that this is positive step and that this fund will help expand and build new childhood education and care centres in areas of need. I want to thank the National Farmers Federation too for imploring the Liberals and the Nationals to match what we’re doing. They get it. Unfortunately, the Liberal Party and National Party haven’t heard them, because they don’t support this. They’ve spent 2½ years in this Parliament talking about childcare deserts. They spent a decade in government doing nothing about it. Now there is a $1 billion fund on the table that they could support, but they choose not to. It’s unbelievable. The Productivity Commission also recommended something else that we need to do next. That’s to get rid of the Liberals’ activity test. This is a real barrier that was purposefully put in place by the Liberal Party to limit access to early education for a lot of children—in particular, a lot of disadvantaged children and kids from poor families. It is deeply unfair. A test to determine if your child is worthy of accessing early education is one that no family should have to pass. The Productivity Commission report gives us a definition of what a universal early education and care system could and should look like. It says it’s a system where every child can get access to affordable early education and care three days a week or 30 hours a week. This bill gets rid of the Liberals’ activity test and replaces it with a guarantee of access to three days a week of government supported early education and care for every child who needs it. It’s still means tested, but it means that families will not be left out because parents are looking for work or preparing to go back to study. It means that over 100,000 families will be able to get more subsidised hours of early education and care. And it means real cost-of-living relief for 66,700 families in the first full financial your alone. Those families will save an average of $1,370 per year on their childcare costs. About half of those families earn less than $100,000 per year. Lower-income families will save even more: an average of $1,460 a year.

This is going to make a real difference for a lot of young families. It will help with the cost of living but it will do more than that. Fundamentally this is about helping every child get a great start in life—what every parent wants for their children and what every child deserves—helping them to get ready to start school, helping to make sure they don’t start school behind. That’s what early education does. This is not babysitting; it’s early education. The evidence is clear: children who get access to early education and care are more likely to start school ready to go, ready to learn. They’re also more likely to finish school and then go on to more study. Former US President Joe Biden often made the point that a child who goes to preschool is 50 per cent more likely to go to college. At the moment, while lots of Australian children get the benefit of this life-changing opportunity, not all do. As the Productivity Commission pointed out in its final report, at the moment it’s children who need it most who are least likely to access early education and care. In 2021 only 54 per cent of children in the most disadvantaged areas were enrolled in early education and care, compared with 76 per cent of children in the highest socioeconomic areas. The most recent Early Development Census report found that only 42.7 per cent of children experiencing the highest level of socioeconomic disadvantage were on track when they started school, compared with 54.8 per cent of all children. That’s what this is about: helping them, helping to make sure more children are ready to start school.

This bill does something else, too. As part of our commitment to closing the gap we are setting a target of ensuring that at least 55 per cent of Indigenous Australian children are developmentally on track. At the moment it’s 34 per cent. That’s a big gap. Not unsurprisingly, Indigenous children’s attendance at early education and care is way below the national average, and the activity test is one of the reasons for this. That’s why this bill increases the base entitlement to 100 hours for Indigenous children. It’s a really important change—one that Indigenous families and communities have been calling for since the activity test was created. And we have listened. You only have to listen to the words of the CEO of SNAICC, Catherine Liddle, after the Prime Minister announced this policy to know how important this is. This is what Catherine said:
This can be a game-changer for our babies. It will mean more children are developmentally ready for school, setting them up for a thriving future.

It’s just one part of the work we need do to close the gap, and I am so very proud that it’s part of this bill. I want to thank the Prime Minister for his leadership in driving reform in this area, and I know how personally important it is to him to see these changes being made. I also want to thank my dear friend and colleague the Minister for Early Childhood Education, the awesome Anne Aly. I also want to thank our offices, and I want to thank our department for the work they have done in preparing this legislation. And I want to thank our early educators and our teachers, and I hope you see in this bill how this government values the important work you do. I also want to thank everyone who has called for this for years and years and years—groups like the Parenthood, whose CEO, Georgie Dent, called this ‘a paradigm shift’; people like Ros Baxter, the CEO of Goodstart, who said, ‘This will change lives;’ or Jay Weatherill at the Minderoo Foundation who called this ‘a momentous step’; or the Centre for Policy Development, who said that this guarantee ‘is a game-changer’ and that it demonstrates ‘a real dedication to delivering a universal system’; or the Business Council of Australia’s Wendy Black, who said that they have ‘long called for an early childhood education guarantee based on quality, universal access to give children a strong educational foundation’.

This is important reform for an essential service for more than a million families across the country. It helps parents get back to work, but, even more important than that, it helps the next generation of Australians to prepare for school, to prepare for their life ahead. That’s what makes this reform so important, and I am so happy to commend it to the House.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

This week the new National Student Ombudsman opened its doors.

It has the powers of a Royal Commission to investigate complaints made against a university.

This is a national first.

And it has been a long time coming.

Too long.

For too long students have been let down by their universities and inaction by previous Governments.

Advocates have been ignored and they shouldn’t have been.

The evidence is overwhelming.

One in twenty university students report being sexually assaulted on campus.

One in six report being sexually harassed.

And one in two report that they felt they weren’t being heard when they made a complaint.

That’s why I acted.

That’s why this Government has acted.

Introducing legislation last year to create the first National Student Ombudsman.

But this is just the first step.

These bills that I introduce today are the next steps.

They provide for the establishment and enforcement of a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence.

The Code will be made by the Minister as a legislative instrument and it will set out best practice requirements that all higher education providers will be required to meet.

It will hold all higher education providers to consistently high standards to proactively prevent and respond to gender-based violence.    

These standards will be backed by monitoring and enforcement to ensure that we build a culture of compliance in this critical area.

Under the Code, higher education providers will be required to take evidence-based steps to prevent gender-based violence on their campuses. 

This includes requiring that Vice-Chancellors and CEOs to make a whole-of-organisation plan, and report to their Governing Bodies every six months on the actions they are taking to implement it. 

They will be required to provide evidence-based prevention education and training to staff and students and consider any history of gender-based violence in the recruitment and promotion of staff. 

They will be required to consult with students, staff and people with lived experience, and their approach must be informed by evidence of what works. 

The Code will also ensure that when the worst happens, students and staff have access to the best response possible. 

A response that’s trauma informed and puts people first. 

A response that ensures people are heard, have agency in what happens next, have access to the support that they need and are supported by their institution to achieve their educational outcomes.

Providers will be required to train staff and student leaders on how best to respond to disclosures. 

And non-disclosure agreements will be prohibited, unless requested by a victim-survivor.  

Providers will also be required to report de-identified data and measure the changes that their policies are securing, informing compliance, ensuring accountability and contributing to the national evidence base to help us build an understanding of what works best. 

The Code will also include an enforceable requirement that providers implement the recommendations of the National Student Ombudsman.

This gives the findings and recommendations of the Ombudsman real teeth and will make sure that they are put in place to improve our universities and other providers.

University is not just a place where people learn. For many students, it’s where they live.

That’s why the Code will also have specific requirements to help ensure that student accommodation is safe for students.

The Code will require that following a disclosure or formal report, measures are immediately put in place to prioritise residents’ safety and arrange urgent support services. 

And for accommodation which is affiliated with a university but not controlled by it, the university will be required to seek that accommodation provider’s agreement to meet the requirements of the Code or lose the benefits of their affiliation with the university.

And universities will have an obligation to investigate formal reports of gender-based violence even where they occur at student accommodation which is operated by a third party.

If you want to know why that’s important, you just have to look at the accounts of sexual assault and mistreatment at university colleges and other on-campus accommodation.

Universities will not have the option of saying “a disclosure of gender-based violence is a matter for a private college”. Where the discloser or respondent is a student or staff member of the university, the Code will require that the university take action, including to provide trauma-informed support and to investigate where necessary. 

The Code has been the subject of broad consultation over the past eight months, including with victim-survivor advocates, students, the higher education sector, gender-based violence experts, states and territories and relevant Australian Government agencies. 

Detailed consultation has taken place through an Expert Reference Group comprising 19 leaders from higher education, gender-based violence and the student accommodation sectors and victim-survivor advocates.

I table a copy of the draft Code for the information of colleagues.

The Code contains critically important standards and requirements which all higher education providers must follow.

That’s why these bills also establish a new regulatory framework with robust compliance monitoring backed by strong enforcement powers.

To monitor and enforce the Code, a new specialist gender-based violence unit will be established within the Department of Education.

The unit will provide guidance, education and advice to support universities and other providers in understanding their legal obligations under the Code.

The unit will also be able to exercise a significant range of powers to monitor, investigate and respond to non-compliance with the Code and the measures in this Bill.

These powers include issuing requests for information, compliance notices, infringement notices, and powers to require enforceable undertakings and to seek civil penalties and injunctions through a court.

As I mentioned earlier, Vice Chancellors and CEOs will be directly accountable for the compliance of their university with the Code, including requirements that they report every six months to their governing body.

The bills provide for significant civil penalties where a provider fails to comply with the National Code or a compliance notice from the Secretary, or fails to keep records or meet their reporting obligations.

Compliance with the National Code will also become a quality and accountability requirement for providers under the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

Transparency is important here too.

That’s why the bill provides for annual reporting on the gender-based violence unit’s operations and performance which will be tabled in both Houses of Parliament.

The introduction of the Code is part of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education, agreed to by all Education Ministers in February last year.

That Action Plan was recommended by a working group of Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments which my Department convened as part of our response to the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report.

The Universities Accord Interim Report underlined the importance of moving immediately to address sexual assault and sexual harassment in our universities. 

That’s what I have done.

The Student Ombudsman is now up and running.

And these Bills are the next steps.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved in bringing them to the Parliament today.

From the Universities Accord Panel, to the Working Group, Expert Reference Group and Education Ministers across the country. To my colleagues and our respective Departments and offices who worked together to make today possible.

And most importantly to the advocates and the victim-survivors who have fought for this for so long.

Organisations like End Rape on Campus.

End Rape on Campus was founded in 2016 by Sharna Bremner; she ran it with a small group of committed volunteers.

Working for free.

Working to make the lives of students safer.

Incredibly important work.

When this Parliament passed legislation last year to set up the National Student Ombudsman, they put out this statement:

            “End Rape on Campus Australia has now permanently closed… Almost 9 years to the day since our founding, we’ve done the thing that organisations like ours should be aiming to do – we’ve advocated ourselves out of business. We’re incredibly thankful to everyone who has supported us over the years.”

End Rape on Campus didn’t close because the work to rid our campuses of sexual assault and harassment is complete. It is not.

It was because Government was finally listening – and we were bringing together the resources needed to make a real difference.

That’s what the National Student Ombudsman is.

And that’s what these bills and the draft National Code are.

I commend these bills to the House.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

I’d like to start by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people whose land we are gathered on today. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and I who celebrate the diversity of First Nations people, their ongoing cultures and traditions, their educational practices and their connection to the land, water and skies. I also extend my respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here with us today. 

I’d like to acknowledge my good friend, colleague and fellow West Australian, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, the Honourable Patrick Gorman. I’d also like to acknowledge the National Australia Day Council board members and staff, and of course, Australian of The Year alumni and the 2025 nominees. That’s about as much of my speech as I’m going to read. 

It is such an incredible honour and privilege, and indeed so humbling, to be in a room here today with so many amazing Australians. You know, I often say that in our lives we don’t often take time to look through the rearview mirror. 

One of the common themes speaking to the Young Australians of the Year nominees this morning was two things. The first of all was that element of surprise that they were even nominated or recognised for the work that they’re doing. And the second thing that I noticed, was they talked about what everybody else has achieved, and how wonderful all the other nominees are, and how great the achievements of all the other nominees are. 

But I want to say, to not just the Young Australian of the Year nominees, but to all the nominees, that you are here because of what you have achieved to date. But for many of you, that has meant overcoming some incredible adversity, some really great challenges, a lot of self-doubt and at times doubt from others as well. 

So, I’d like to ask you all to use this as a time to look into that review mirror. Just take a moment to look into that rearview mirror and reflect on how far you’ve come as well. You are here because of how far you’ve come. You are here because of those incredible challenges that you overcame, because of the perseverance and the passion that you showed in making a difference and trying to make a difference to the lives of the people around you. And for that, you are an incredible inspiration. For that you are an incredible Australian. And for that, you deserve to be acknowledged.

So, as you look in the rearview mirror, take that time today, because from now on, going forward, it’s all going to be straight in through that front windscreen as you move forward. I wish all the nominees all the very best of luck. And I want to say a huge, heartfelt congratulations to all of you, not just for being nominated for Australian of the year, not just for the work that you’re being recognised, but for the things that you do every day, for the selflessness that you exhibit in the things that you do every day to make life better for the others and the people that are around you. 

Thank you. And good luck to all the recipients. 

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

Can I start by acknowledging the Miriuwung Gajerrong people, the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet. Thank you very much, Auntie, for the beautiful welcome to country and the ceremony. I pay my respects to elders past and present and celebrate the diversity of our First Nations people, their ongoing culture and traditions, their education practices and their connections to land, water and sky.

I also acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are part of the amazing Connected Beginnings program, which I’ll talk a little bit about today as well.

The knowledge and wisdom that communities bring to Connected Beginnings is what drives the  success to where we are today. Thank you to the Binarri Binyja Yarrawoo Aboriginal Corporation for having us today, it’s super duper exciting to have you joining the Connected Beginnings family.

And I really do want to make special mention of my very, very dear friend and very dear colleague, the amazing Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, who was able to make it here with us today. Thanks so much for being here.

I also want to acknowledge Agnes Armstrong, local Miriuwung elder who is joining us today, providing wisdom and strength to this community, and here today we also have Vanessa [indistinct] from SNAICC, and without the wonderful SNAICC and the wonderful experts like Vanessa, the Connected Beginnings program just wouldn’t be possible, so thanks for everything that you and SNAICC do.

Also joined by representatives from Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service who have signed on as the health partner for Connected Beginnings here in Kununurra, and I want to extend my respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with us here today.

What a beautiful site this is, what a beautiful gathering we have this morning to celebrate the opening of the very last 50th Connected Beginnings site right across Australia.

As a very proud Western Australian, albeit from Perth, it took me seven hours of travelling to get up here – I was determined to make it – it’s so great to be here with you today to make this huge and important announcement.

We’ve reached our target. We had a target of 50 Connected Beginnings sites right across Australia, and today marks the day, with this site opening, that we’ve reached that target, and can I say, six months before the deadline. Six months before the deadline, and have delivered not just all of them, but on time ahead of schedule as well.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, this program, the Connected Beginnings program is really quite phenomenal, it really to me harkens back to traditional ways of doing things, traditional ways of raising children. I come from a part of world where the community raises the child. If you can’t breastfeed, you’ve got a wet nurse, your sister can breastfeed, or your sister in law can breast feed, it takes a village to raise a child, everyone goes in and raises that child. That’s how you get children who thrive, when you bring together the expertise, the parenting, health, early childhood education, language, in place and in country and on country. That’s how you get young people and children to thrive.

As you know, Connected Beginnings is helping to close not just the gap but the gaping chasm in outcomes for our First Nations children by ensuring that health, that education and family support services work together to help children and their families have that successful transition to school, and I don’t have to tell any of you just how important those first five years of a child’s life are.

By the time a child reaches school, 90 per cent of their brain has already developed, 90 per cent has already developed, which means that if we get those first five years right, before they get to school, we have the opportunity in our hand to change the trajectory of a child’s life, to make a huge difference and a huge impact, not just now, not just for those first five years, but well into school, into adolescence, and into adulthood as well.

That’s how significant this program is, that’s how significant those first five years are, and that is exactly why we need as a government, working with the community, to ensure that we do everything that we can to give the very best possible start in life for our children in communities here.

We know that when children are strong in culture and go to early childhood education and care, they have better outcomes, having that connection to their identity, to their culture, to their land, [indistinct], and place. They have better outcomes at school, they have better outcomes through adolescence and throughout adulthood.

So when we bring together quality early learning with the strong identity grounded in culture and health support it creates a bright future for these children.

You cannot separate health outcomes from educational outcomes, and you cannot separate educational outcomes on having a strong identity and a strong connection to community, to land, to culture.

We’re creating this future for our youngest Australians by empowering communities to design and deliver a program in a way that supports the individual needs, and that’s the trick there, that’s the key part of it; is empowering the communities to do that. Local knowledge, local intel, years and years of traditional knowledge passed on from generation to generation to generation.

That’s why Connected Beginnings is achieving results, because it’s about connecting communities in the beginning years of a child’s life, prioritising local knowledge and culture, ensuring that communities determine, design and implement solutions to support their own children.

We’ve been delivering this in partnership with SNAICC, the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, the Connected Beginnings program exemplifies all the great things that can happen, the real outcomes that you can achieve, when you actually give community the lead, not just involve them, but give them the lead, and follow them, not get them to follow you; would be the other way around.

Now when I – last year I visited one of the new Connected Beginnings sides in Geraldton, and afterwards I was doing a media interview, and the journalist said to me, she said, “Oh, this is a new way, a new way of doing things, isn’t it?” And I said to her, “New? No, it’s thousands and thousands of years old in how you raise children”.

This is the traditional way in how you raise children. You bring together everyone to wrap around a child, to watch that child grow and thrive. Everyone has a part in that child’s life. This is not new, this is old ways, and this is the ways that have been used and proven for generation upon generation upon generation, and when we listen to communities and when they tell us about these ways and the ways of   and how these ways have fostered and cushioned and grown strong children and strong adults for generations, then we have that opportunity to do that for future generations as well.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Connected Beginnings program. At the existing Connected Beginnings sites, that’s 49 of them, plus this one, number 50, the average attendance of First Nations children in centre based care has increased by more than 10 per cent. That’s the real difference it’s making.

The existing sites have also seen an increase in the number of children on track in all five of our Australian early development census domains. So you’re getting more children attending and more children meeting the early development census domains; executive functioning, oral language, all of those things that we know is what creates successful learners in young children, as well as successful adolescents and adults.

And this new site here in Kununurra is being developed in partnership with Binarri Binyja Yarrawoo, the Aboriginal Corporation. It will support – get this – 600, around 600 local First Nations children. That’s pretty huge. And as the 50th site, the Connected Beginnings program now with the opening of this site now has the potential to support up to 20 per cent of all First Nations children right across Australia in those vital years before school. That’s pretty amazing, pretty amazing the difference that we’ve seen it already make, and the difference that we’re going to see it continue to make as well.

So a huge thank you from me to all of our partners who are here today and to all of our partners right across Australia who have been fundamental in making this happen, making this reality of opening our 50th site a success, a reality, and well ahead of schedule too, I’ve got to put that in again.

I really look forward to seeing the outcomes of Connected Beginnings site here in Kununurra, watching the families and the young children thrive under this program, and I look forward to coming back here to beautiful Kununurra in who knows how many, maybe a month, maybe a year’s time, and seeing the difference that you are all going to be making here that builds on the difference you’re already making as a community here.

Thank you to everyone involved, and congratulations on number 50. 

Source: Workplace Gender Equality Agency

Regional railway crossings across Victoria will receive important safety upgrades thanks to over $54 million in shared funding from the Albanese Labor Government and the Allan Labor Government.

The 32 high-priority railway level crossing improvements across the state’s regional rail network are being funded under Round 2 of the Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund (RLCUF) which is jointly funded by both levels of government.  

In the Ararat and Pyrenees council areas, eight level crossings will share in $14 million of funding. 

This includes the level crossing at Challicum Road, near Dip Road in Buangor. South of Coach Road and near the Historic Buangor Railway Station, the crossing currently relies on flashing lights and signage as the only safety measures. 

The $1.8 million upgrade will deliver boom gates and axle counters providing a much safer crossing for locals and tourists to the area.   

In the Ararat Rural City Council area, upgrades are also being delivered to level crossings at Gravel Route Road in Buangor, Greenhill Lake Road in Ararat, Military Bypass Road in Armstrong, Porters Bridge Road in Tatyoon, and Warrayatkin Road in Dobie. 

Next door in the Pyrenees Shire both the Finnegan Road and Old Shirley Road level crossings will also receive upgrades to deliver boom gates and axle counters.  

The RLCUF aims to improve railway crossing safety in regional areas and reduce serious and fatal accidents that have a devastating impact on communities.

The 32 level crossing upgrades across Victoria will include treatments such as installing boom gates, axle counters, flashing lights and signage.

The state and federal Labor Governments are working together to deliver critical safety upgrades that ensure people living in regional and rural areas can get where they need to go safely and efficiently.    

For more information visit: Regional Australia Level Crossing Safety Program

Quotes attributable to Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King:

“The Albanese Government is committed to improving railway crossing safety across Victoria and the country through the Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund.

“From Swan Hill to Gippsland, this funding is supporting upgrades like boom gates, signage, flashing lights and rumble strips, to better alert motorists and pedestrians approaching regional railway crossings.

“We will continue to work with the Victorian Government to make level crossing safer across the state.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Transport Gabrielle Williams:

“We are getting on with delivering important safety upgrades right across Victoria’s regional rail network that will save lives.”

“There’s nothing more important than getting home safe – that’s why we are making the necessary investments across the state.”

“After 10 years of neglect from the Federal Liberal National Government it’s great to have a partner in Canberra that knows where Victoria is on a map and invests in critical infrastructure that people rely on every day.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Ripon Martha Haylett: 

“Country level crossings can be dangerous places for motorists, pedestrians and train drivers. 

“These upgrades will make such a difference to the people who drive through these level crossings every day. I’m really proud to be delivering these upgrades in partnership with the Albanese Government.”  

Funded Victorian projects – Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund: 

Project / Railway crossing	Project location
Bridgewater-Dunolly Rd	Arnold
Bridgewater-Dunolly Rd	Llanelly
Boort-Charlton Rd	Charlton
Military Bypass Rd	Armstrong
Porters Bridge Rd	Tatyoon
Farrells Ln	Stratford
Dowling Rd	Cardigan
Draffins Rd	Cardigan
Powells Road	Windermere
Carpenter Rd	Windermere
Burrumbeet Rd	Burrumbeet
Old Shirley Rd	Beaufort
Aerodrome Extension Rd	Swan Hill
Maher Rd	Swan Hill
TAFE Training Farm	Swan Hill
Jeffer Rd	Tresco
Gorton Dr	Mystic Park
Kangaroo Lake Rd	Lake Charm
Worsleys Rd	Tragowel
Prices Rd	Pyramid Hill
Mologa Durham Ox Rd	Pyramid Hill
Greenhills Rd	Raywood
Fitzpatricks Rd	Sebastian
Air Strip Rd	Bendigo
Finnegan Rd	Beaufort
Dip Rd	Buangor
Warrayatkin Rd	Dobie
Greenhill Lake Rd	Ararat
Gravel Route Rd	Buangor
Selby-Aura Rd	Selby
Kilvington Dr	Emerald
Bungower Rd	Mornington

 

2.  

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services