Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Jim Chalmers
Today is a really important day. A lot of Australian parents are going back to work and so it’s an opportunity to thank Hannah and her colleagues here at Goodstart Daisy Hill in our local community for all the terrific work that the early educators do in our local community, but indeed, right around Australia as well.
What we’re ensuring as the Albanese Labor government is that more Australian kids get the early education that they need and deserve, whatever their parents’ work or study arrangements. For too long now, the activity test has locked out Australian kids from early education because of the choices that their parents might make about work or study, or more broadly as well, and we’re changing that.
Today is a really important day with the introduction of the Albanese Labor government’s 3 Day Guarantee. What the 3 Day Guarantee is all about is recognising that the work that happens here is not babysitting, it’s not child minding. It’s a really important part of the education system. What happens in places like this one is all about early education for kids when that early education is so important, getting them ready for school and getting them ready for life. We’re ensuring that more Australian kids get a minimum of 3 days early education, that’s what the 3 Day Guarantee is all about.
What it means is for some families who may have had to find $150 a day for early childhood education and care, for some families it will go down to about $15. We expect about 100,000 Australian families will benefit from the Albanese Labor government’s 3 Day Guarantee. Now, we work on the basis that if it’s good for kids, if it’s good for families, it’s good for the education system, then it’s good for the economy as well. That’s why, as Treasurer, I’m really proud to have helped secure the funding for this 3 Day Guarantee, which begins today.
Now, this is not the only thing that we’re doing in early childhood education and care. This is the next step towards a more universal childcare and early education system. This is a really important step towards a more universal system. We’ve invested billions of dollars in subsidies, we’ve invested billions of dollars in better wages for early educators as well, we’re building more centres, and now we’re introducing, from today, this 3 Day Guarantee. This 3 Day Guarantee is not the only thing that we’re doing in early childhood education and care, but it’s a really important part of our policy in this area. It’s also not the only thing that we’re doing to help Australian families with the cost of living, but it’s a really important step that we are taking.
So, from today, the 3 Day Guarantee begins. From this month there are cheaper medicines, in addition to the tax cuts and the investments in Medicare. It’s all about recognising that if we can help Australian families with the cost of early childhood education and care, we can help Australians with the cost of healthcare, we can cut taxes 2 more times this year and next year. This is all about providing Australians with the cost of living relief that they need, and it’s all about investing in the next generation by investing in Australian children and their families through the 3 Day Guarantee that begins today.
I wanted to thank Hannah for having us. I want to acknowledge Jeff and I want to thank John as well. I’ll throw to John to say a few words. Then if you’ve got some questions for John, and when you want to go more broadly into other matters of the day I’m happy to take some questions from you at that point.
John Cherry
Thank you, Treasurer. John Cherry, Head of Advocacy for Goodstart Early Learning, which is Australia’s largest not for profit early learning provider. We are just delighted to be here today to kick off the 3 Day Guarantee across all of our centres and across the entire early learning sector. As the treasurer said, around 100,000 families will benefit. That includes lots of families who are already paying through the nose, low income families, to send their children to early learning. A family in our centres currently who fails the Activity Test who is sending their child early learning for 3 days a week will be $250 odd a week better off from today. So, they’re low income families – 2,300 low income families across Goodstart – are better off from today as a result of the 3 Day Guarantee. And we also hope to see thousands more children from low income families from disadvantaged communities accessing early learning as a result of the Guarantee.
This Guarantee is a direct result of the decisions by the government which implements the first step of the pathway to a universal early learning system, as recommended by the Productivity Commission a few years ago. And they recommended that because they saw the activity test as a massive burden on low income families trying to access early learning. What we know from low income disadvantaged children is they benefit most from early learning. They’re the least likely to attend. And the reform we’re having today will have a huge, huge impact on children’s lives across Australia, setting themselves up better for school and for learning and for life. So it’s a great day for children of Australia. It’s a great day for our families, and it’s certainly a great day for Australia.
Journalist
Are you concerned that people who previously did not meet the activity test will use taxpayer funded childcare subsidies for convenience rather than, you know, genuine need?
Cherry
Well, this this measure is only 3 days a week. 80 per cent of families already access early learning for 3 days a week because they’ve met the old activity test. The 20 per cent of families who don’t meet the activity test, this is about their children. Children shouldn’t be penalised for the work choices or the decisions made by their parents. This is about giving children the best possible start at life. We know if they access good quality early learning they are better set up for school. And this is part of that transition away from a system, a penalising system based on workforce participation of parents, to a system that actually supports children for life and learning.
Journalist
John, with the workforce of childcare, how difficult is it to find workers at the moment?
Cherry
As a result of the government’s wage subsidy, which went up to 15 per cent on the first of December, we’ve actually seen vacancies for childcare workers fall by about 30 per cent over the last 2 years. So across Australia, there are still pockets in regional areas and some parts of Australia where we struggled with educators, but the government’s workforce wage subsidy – 15 per cent, it’s picked up to that level from the first of December – means we’ve got more workers than we’ve had for a long time. That is great news for families because that means a more stable workforce which is a higher quality, safer workforce, and that’s a great outcome. We do look forward to the Treasurer making a decision later this year to extend that subsidy beyond December, but that’s a matter for another day.
Journalist
So why do some childcare centres, or a lot of childcare centres have such long wait lists? There’s some families who are waiting months, if not years, to get their kid into a childcare centre.
Cherry
In terms of childcare vacancies across Australia, it depends where they are. Most parts of Australia do not have long waiting lists for centres. Most parts of Australia are either adequately supplied or oversupplied with childcare centres. There are parts of regional and rural Australia where there are serious vacancies and serious concerns about not having enough access, and there is a billion dollar federal government initiative which will address that, which we look forward to being part of later this year.
What we do see is there are waiting lists for good‑quality centres, and we’ve seen some of the good‑quality centres become much, much more popular over the course of the last year as people been concerned about some of the safety centres and some of the less quality centres. And I think that’s probably a good thing, because parents are now starting to think of starting to think about what is the best possible outcome for their children.
Chalmers
Just to add to John’s first answer. The old activity test treated early education as child minding and it meant that too many Australian kids were missing out on the benefits, and that’s what we’re changing from today and that’s why it’s so important.
Journalist
Treasurer, the nation’s largest employers have said a Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack and antisemitism is necessary for safe workplaces and to ensure Australia remains an attractive destination for investment. Have they spoken directly to you, and do you share their concerns?
Chalmers
Look, I think that these calls for a Royal Commission come overwhelmingly from a good place. A lot of the voices that I’ve heard are voices that I respect a great deal, including in the business community, but not just in the business community. The government’s position is that we are focused on the urgent and the immediate. We’re focused on strengthening our hate laws. We’re focused on toughening up our gun laws. We’re focused on implementing the recommendations of the Segal review. We’re focused on working with Dennis Richardson to understand what we can learn from a Commonwealth agency’s point of view. We’re focused on ensuring that we make a meaningful and helpful contribution to the New South Wales Royal Commission, and so that’s been the government’s focus on what is urgent and what is immediate. We understand, obviously, that there are a number of Australians who would like to see a Commonwealth Royal Commission, including those that you have cited. We respect those people. We understand that those calls are coming from a good place.
Journalist
Do you think that not having a Royal Commission could impact Australia’s attractiveness to investors and impact workplace safety?
Chalmers
I think the important thing here is that we learn the lessons of that horrifying atrocity on the beach and in the park at Bondi. There are a number of ways to go about that. And I think our message to the world is that this Albanese government is taking a number of very decisive steps to make sure that we learn from what happened, but also that we act on what happened.
We are in the process of strengthening laws against hate speech. We are in the process of working with the states and territories to toughen up our gun laws. We’re in the process of accelerating some of the implementation of the recommendations of the Segal review. So, the government is taking a number of steps. We know that the world is watching, because what happened at Bondi last month was such a horrifying event, and the urgent and the immediate actions that we are taking are really important when it comes to us learning from and responding to this attack.
Journalist
I understand Parliament is likely to come back early. Can you say when that’s likely to be and what immediate changes you want to introduce then?
Chalmers
I’m not in a position to say when Parliament will return. Obviously, as I’ve indicated in some of my other answers, we’re working very hard on updating arrangements around hate speech. We’re working very hard with our state and territory counterparts on strengthening our gun laws. As the Prime Minister and others have indicated we will recall the Parliament when we can legislate some of those very substantive steps. But here I wanted to thank a whole range of Commonwealth officials who’ve been working around the clock since the horrific events of December, to work with ministers to update and strengthen the relevant legislation. And when there’s more to be said about the timing of Parliament that’ll be a matter for the Prime Minister and Minister Burke to announce.
Journalist
I understand the National Security Committee meeting met today. Can you say if there are any decisions that have come out of that?
Chalmers
Well, I think it’s there are good reasons why we don’t comment on the discussions with the National Security Committee. There was a meeting earlier today and I participated in that meeting. That National Security Committee has met probably most days since the atrocities at Bondi and we’re working through all of these issues that I’ve been discussing with you today. There was a meeting today. I’m not prepared to go into the discussions that happened there, but that that group has been meeting more or less constantly for some time now, making sure that we focus on the urgent and the immediate and that we take the necessary steps after that horrifying event.
Journalist
After the Bondi attack, the Albanese government announced the gun buyback scheme. Are you able to share any details regarding how much the cost to taxpayers will be?
Chalmers
Well, the costs are being finalised, as is the policy. You would understand when we are working through a change of this magnitude, it requires a lot of cooperation and collaboration with the states and territories. We’re doing that work. I pay tribute to my ministerial colleagues who have been working over Christmas on that, to make sure that we get the buyback regime right.
I think for a lot of Australians, and for me included, I think it’s obvious that we need to toughen up our gun laws. It makes no sense to us that Australians would need the sorts of weapons and the number of weapons that we saw involved in the atrocity of mid‑December. So we’re working very hard to update and strengthen and toughen our gun laws. A necessary element of that is the buyback. The cost of that will become clearer as we finalise the policy itself.
Journalist
Do you have a timeline for when we roughly will probably know these details?
Chalmers
Well, as we’ve been in discussions with our colleagues at the state and territory level, we’ve given the Australian public an update on those discussions. That policy is not concluded yet but a lot of work’s gone into it, and when we have more to say about it, we’ll say that publicly.
Journalist
Have you heard from any of the business leaders including James Packer, Philip Lowe, about the calls for Royal Commission? Or sporting stars who have also put their names to an open letter to the government calling for Royal Commission?
Chalmers
No, but I’ve obviously seen their public comments, and as I said earlier I believe these comments come overwhelmingly from a good place. I respect the people that you’ve mentioned. I respect the people who have been reported as taking this view.
Journalist
How frustrating is it that Queensland is yet to – on gun laws, sorry – is yet to adopt or put out to tender for an agency to digitise our national gun register, our gun register, in terms of the national scheme that the government is trying to put together?
Chalmers
This is an important and necessary step. We need to update the register. The Commonwealth has shown leadership here, first under former Attorney‑General Mark Dreyfus, and now under Attorney‑General Michelle Rowland, the Commonwealth government’s been playing a leadership role. Of course, we want to see that gun register updated as soon as possible. Some time ago we made that clear, and we’ve provided some resourcing, as I recall it, to help some of the states update their register. So, we want to see that done as soon as possible. That’s an important step, but it’s not the only necessary step in this regard. We need to update and toughen our gun laws more broadly, and that’s what the government’s focused on.
Journalist
[Inaudible].
Chalmers
Well, a couple of things about that. We’ve had an opportunity to be briefed this morning on developments in Venezuela. We’ve received an initial briefing from our own agencies about developments there. Obviously, those developments are fast moving, and like everyone around the world, we’ll be monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely.
Our position is to encourage the relevant parties now to engage in dialogue and diplomacy and to ensure that there’s not an escalation. We’ve expressed our concerns for some time about the Maduro regime in Venezuela. We are supporters of international law, and it’s for the Americans to make clear the legal basis of the steps taken over the weekend.
Journalist
Do we know how many Australians are there? And do you have any plans considered to help them?
Chalmers
Well, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working very hard to establish which, if any, Australians have been impacted by the events in Venezuela over the weekend. They are doing their usual diligent work to establish that. They’ve also updated their advice. The advice for Venezuela has been Do Not Travel for some time, but there’s more information on the DFAT website for people to make known to them. For any Australians who are who are caught up there, the advice is to shelter in place, but I’d encourage anyone impacted to stay across the advice as it develops.
Journalist
On childcare, is this a step towards the aim of universal childcare, the changes that we’re seeing today?
Chalmers
Well, these are very substantial steps towards a more universal early learning system, and that’s what this is all about. If you look at the steps that the government has taken over 3 and a half years in office – substantial increase in the subsidy, a billion dollars to build more centres, a substantial pay increase for the early educators who are doing such important work in our communities and in our country. This is all about getting closer to that universal system.
It made absolutely no sense that a lot of the Australian kids who needed early education the most were being locked out of the system by our predecessors’ activity test. And so by changing that, by introducing the 3 Day Guarantee, we do get closer to a universal system. We do build on the very substantial progress that we’ve made already when it comes to early childhood education and care, and that’s why we’re so proud of these developments today. Today is a really important day for Australian kids and for Australian families, because it recognises that the work that is done here by Hannah and her colleagues is not babysitting, it’s not child minding, it’s a crucial part of the education system, and it gets us closer universality which is a good thing.
Journalist
And just on workforce. It’s all well and good to offer these kinds of subsidies, but there are genuine concerns about there not being enough workers in the system. So isn’t it a bit useless that people can’t actually get into a centre in the first place?
Chalmers
Well, a couple of things about that. First of all, I was very encouraged by what John said a moment ago about what our pay rise has meant for Australians expressing an interest in, or applying for, early childhood education jobs and to study ECEC. This is a really important development.
For too long, we were losing too many educators and that was making it harder for Australian families to find a place for their youngsters in great early learning centres like this one at Daisy Hill. So, we have made some progress there. Obviously, there is more to do in that regard. We’re also building more centres, a billion dollars to build more centres. This is all about making it easier and more affordable for more Australian children to get the early education that they need and deserve, and in the process, to take more pressure off families.
Thanks everyone.