Thursday, 22 February 2024

Bills

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Ben Carroll:

That this bill be now read a second time.

And Jess Wilson’s amendment:

That all the words after ‘That’ be omitted and replaced with the words ‘this house refuses to read this bill a second time until the government:

(1) provides a preliminary or draft fee structure for the early learning centres (ELCs) scheduled to open in 2025 and 2026;

(2) seeks written feedback from any childcare centre, kindergarten or preschool within a 15-kilometre radius of the proposed government ELC sites regarding the likely impact of a government ELC on their workforce capacity and enrolments, and provides their feedback to the house;

(3) conducts an analysis on the childcare workforce implications of the new government ELC sites, including:

(a) establishing the workforce vacancy rates around the locations of the new sites; and

(b) providing the house with a comprehensive plan on how the government will ensure existing childcare centres and kindergartens are not disadvantaged in their ability to recruit and retain staff in their existing programs; and

(4) provides an estimate of the budget impact of the operating costs for the government ELCs scheduled to open in 2025 and 2026.’

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (10:06): It is a pleasure to rise today to talk on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. I would like to thank the staff for their briefing, which I was online for, and thank also the member for Kew, the shadow minister in this portfolio, who has done an enormous amount of work on this. She has put together quite a good position.

The opposition does not oppose this bill. We understand that the intent of the bill is to give the minister the powers to employ people into the future for the 50 government-built centres that they are going to do across the state. It is something that has to happen. I think it is very important that we really do focus on early childhood education, because we all know in this chamber that the earlier kids can learn and develop the better off they will be as they get older. Probably one criticism I might have of the government, and I have said this before in this place, is that I feel as though sometimes we have left the run too late because we do have a shortage of spaces in early learning in Victoria. I think the commitment to free three-year-old kinder at the last election has probably amplified the need to get this going as quickly as we possibly can.

The government have released now details of all of the 50 centres that they going to do across the state, and I would like to thank the government for putting one in Drouin in my electorate of Narracan. I would have liked more, but I am not going to complain about one. I will always give credit where credit is due. But if you can find another four or five for my electorate, that would be fantastic, because unfortunately in my electorate, being one of the fastest growing in the region, we are short of four or five today. The centre that we get, I think, is due to be delivered in 2028. It does not really solve the immediate problem we have. Unfortunately my council are quite short of funds and they really do not have the money to invest in it. So if the government are feeling very generous in this area and they feel as though they might have a little bit of spare cash somewhere, it would be appreciated greatly if it could come into my area, because my area is forecast to grow by another 56 per cent by 2040. It is going to be a burgeoning population by the time we get to 2040, and with the lack of investment in early learning I think it is really important.

I am seriously asking the government to see if they can find more centres for my electorate, because we also need the workforce in regional Victoria. That is why these early learning centres are actually so important, so that we can get women especially back to work. Women do not necessarily want to sit at home all day. Some do, some do not, but I think the majority of women like to be back out in the workforce, and our workforce in this country at the moment needs workers. We do. We need people back out in the workforce. We all know the more people we have working across our state, the better off our economy is – employment will always create economic development. It is really important, and it will be interesting to see how the government goes in the training. I will be perfectly honest: I do not know if we have a shortage of educators in this area or not. I am making an assumption we probably do because of the demand we have now on early learning centres. I can nearly understand why the government has staggered the release of the 50 new centres they are going to build, because I feel as though we need to catch up on the training as well and to get those people in those positions to train these kids.

There was one question I asked in the bill briefing, and I am quite curious about how the government will deal with this, which is the wage structure of the new 1200 strong workforce that is going to be required and what enterprise bargaining agreement they will come under. I do fear that maybe this workforce that has traditionally not been unionised could end up being unionised. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing for early education, but I would hate to think that if there was ever a pay dispute we would have early educators walking away from early education to get a pay rise. I think we need to be very, very careful here. We do not want to play with early education in that manner. We do not have a problem with the bill. We understand what the intent of the bill is.

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (10:12): I am so glad to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. I am looking forward to coming back to the member for Narracan’s comments about unionised workers, but I will save that for a bit later.

This bill is another step in our excellent progress with the Best Start, Best Life policy. This is the type of policy that only a government like ours can introduce. We are a government that understands families, understands what it is like for working women and understands the pressures that families are under. We are a government that values education for young people, and we are putting all of our efforts and resources into making sure that our young people have the best start in life.

This is an example where a government is stepping in because we know that you cannot always leave it to the market. The market does not always provide for the population in the way that we would hope. We have seen that in the allocation of the 50 spaces based on where the experts have shown us there are childcare deserts. Certainly within Yan Yean we can feel the pinch in areas like Donnybrook, where it can be hard to come by child care and kinder; however, that pinch has eased. We have got more private suppliers coming in. We have our new Myrniong kindy, which opened this year, that the government built, and we have more coming online.

It is important when the decisions are made they are based on the facts and the needs. This government intervention where the market has failed, we have seen that in other areas. We have seen that especially in mobile telecommunications infrastructure. The Victorian government is stepping in in Donnybrook to co-fund a tower with Telstra, but the biggest and most famous example of the government supporting mobile infrastructure is the federal black spot program. That program is well known to me and to the member for Gisborne because that is a program that was introduced to ensure that telecommunications were available during times of natural disasters and in the lead-up to them, and that is something we have been discussing a lot in the chamber this week.

We have heard from the member for Monbulk, although she was unfortunately, perhaps shamefully, misrepresented by the member for Berwick, in her comments about the difficulties faced by people without telecommunications. But the point I am making is, with such a large national program for vital services, what we saw in 2016 was the Australian National Audit Office absolutely slam the coalition government for using this infrastructure program for pork-barrelling. This was a program that was designed to keep people safe, to ensure that they had essential services during difficult times of natural disaster. What was found was that the coalition, shamefully, used it for political purposes. This is in contrast to our 50 childcare centres, whose locations were determined through data and through the facts. So I seek simply to highlight that it is very good that members are in here advocating for their areas, sharing anecdotes of the difficulties faced by families, but ultimately the decision is made and has been made based on the data and the facts. I am so glad that in an instance where the government is stepping in where the market has failed we are doing it in a way that benefits communities equitably and fairly, and I just highlight that that is in contrast to those opposite.

Something special about what we are doing with the introduction of the new centres is that where possible we are seeking to integrate them with existing or other services that are of benefit to a family. So we know – I have got a child in kindergarten and a child in school – how the morning drop-off and pick-up can be difficult with that double drop-off. It is very sensible that we are seeing the integration of that and hopefully further services as well. Certainly at the Wallan East primary school – that is the interim name of the school that will be built in my electorate as part of the 100 schools by 2026 that this government is delivering – I am looking forward to an integrated kindergarten being onsite there.

It is these details and it is these realities of how families live their lives and what children and families need that can only be delivered by an Allan Labor government, because we understand and we are representative of the broad range of families that live across Victoria. That is why earlier this week I was incredibly proud to be at a sod turn for a toilet. People may see that as shameless, but I had heard from families in our local area that the lack of a toilet at Laurimar shops meant they had great difficulty taking their children to the shops. Mums were resorting to taking their kids for bush wees because there was nowhere to go. Understanding family life and the needs of children, mothers and fathers is what this government does best.

What early childhood educators do best is nourish and support the minds of our young children. It is an oft stated fact that brain development by the age of five is so crucial and really sets children up to reach their full potential later in life, so we rely heavily on our early childhood workers. The member for Narracan said he hoped that that workforce would not be unionised because he feared that they would walk off the job. I am happy to update the member for Narracan about the difficulties faced by early childhood and kinder workers, who in a segmented sector – where their employers are one by one – have much reduced bargaining powers, and as a result, conditions and pay are not what they could be. When that is the case, we have less people being attracted to that workforce.

If we want to ensure that we have enough early childhood workers to care for our youngest Victorians, it is important that that role is appealing and attractive to people, that their rights are protected and that they are paid fairly. The work undertaken by the federal government to look at group bargaining for people such as childcare and kinder workers is an excellent step forward, and it benefits and complements our policy more broadly. And it is a massive policy; it is a massive initiative. The $14 billion package altogether for Best Start, Best Life means that more children are in three- and four-year-old kinder.

Something that I am looking forward to as part of that package is the rollout of the additional hours in the year before school, because children are absolute sponges at that age, so that pre-prep year – 30 ‍hours a week of play-based learning – is going to have an enormous impact on the lives of those children. We will not see that impact immediately. The immediate benefit will probably be felt by the parents, but over the longer term of those children’s lives, the way that they are set up to be able to learn the best that they can is going to absolutely change education in this state. That is what the Allan Labor government, and Labor governments more broadly, are about – they are about investing in education, investing in families and investing in children. This Allan Labor government has a strong focus on children and understanding all that we do through the prism of how it affects children and how we can best support children within their families to reach their full potential. I am absolutely 100 ‍per cent proud to stand here as we debate this bill, which will see further improvements for young people and families in Victoria.

Pauline RICHARDS (Cranbourne) (10:22): I am so delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. Early childhood education and the role that our educators have is at the heart of so much of what we do. Hearing the contribution from the member for Yan Yean just reminds me of the importance of having people with children in an early childhood education setting in government so that we can actually make sure that we are pushing forward with reforms that are relevant today. What I am going to talk about is the importance of this legislation, but I am conscious that with my baby now being 22, my experiences – some of them started last century – do date me a little bit and date my children. But I am always delighted, and I welcome the opportunity, to be working alongside people with young families who are indeed here in the chamber to actually hear firsthand about experiences as they are relevant today.

I wake up to the sound of children in the street. Lots of people know that Cranbourne, and indeed the City of Casey, has an extraordinary number of young people. It actually brings so much joy to my community. That sound of young people is indicative of the four classrooms of children a week that are being born into the City of Casey. This bill is focused on providing the necessary powers to the Secretary of the Department of Education to facilitate the government’s commitment to building 50 ‍new government owned and operated early learning centres across Victoria. It is an opportunity for me to pay credit to the Minister for Children in the other place for the important reform work that is being undertaken in this really quite lovely but also core area of responsibility, and it builds on the work that others have undertaken, including the Minister for Education in this Allan Labor government and in the previous Andrews Labor government. We know that centres in communities with insufficient existing childcare provision can also experience high rates of disadvantage. Having an opportunity to send a child to an early childhood setting is absolutely fundamental to our capacity as parents and as people who love children and care for children in whatever capacity – as grandparents or people who provide foster care or kinship care. We know that everyone puts children’s needs first.

My first foray into community was when I first started to get involved in my children’s kindergarten. For many people the kindergarten or early learning centre is like the village well. That is true everywhere, but I think it is particularly true in parts of Victoria where people perhaps have moved from other states or, as is common for so many of my friends in this chamber, from other countries. Having a place where our children can be educated, having a place that is at the centre of early learning, does give families an opportunity to really connect.

I was just reflecting with some friends about the great educators that I was fortunate to have in my children’s lives at Rangeview kinder and the important role of those early friendships that I had. It meant that I was able to have confidence as a parent. I am going to, with your indulgence perhaps, pay credit to Beth Barclay, who provided this extraordinary, straightforward Boston hospitality that meant as another parent I could really connect with others who were going through the same experiences. Fiona Arthurson and Denise McCluskey became part of my village when I was raising my children, and Leeann Cairnduff and the unstoppable Janine Callanan lightened my load as I raised my children.

I have spoken a little bit, but not a lot, in the public domain about when my youngest child was three and not being able to afford to send her to an early childhood education setting. I did not have the financial capacity at that time. I had been able to send my older children to an early childhood setting, but I felt incredible guilt, and it was only through some generosity in my family that I was able to have the resources and the money to send children to an early childhood setting. This government’s commitment to opening 50 new government-owned childcare centres across the state by 2028 will mean that other parents will not have to experience that guilt but will be able to give their children the best start in life. We know that no parent should have to choose between their children’s education and the food on their plate and the clothes on their back. This is a typically progressive Labor piece of legislation that puts our early childhood educators and our children at the centre of what we do.

I arrived this morning to an invitation in my inbox from the Aspire Early Education and Kindergarten in Cranbourne West. The Aspire early education centre is a place that I have visited quite a lot. Last time I was there we had a terrific welcome to country from the local Bunurong mob, and the joy of so many children really socialising and learning how to connect with each other, so I was really very grateful this morning to receive an invitation from Erandathie Wagawattage to an event coming up on 14 March. I will be prioritising that. I always say how grateful I am to Archi Patel for the role as assistant director at Aspire.

I have got the Botanic Ridge Family and Community Centre; the Clarendon Street community centre; the Cranbourne Day and Kindergarten Centre, which is run by the unstoppable Judy Clarkson, who is a bit of a Cranbourne icon; Headstart Early Education in Clyde North; Fairhaven Kindergarten, where the kids are very well connected and looked after; the Marriott Waters family centre, which is right near my office; Selandra Kindergarten, where there are a lot of little legs running around; the Livingston kinder; Imagine Childcare and kinder; and Pebble Patch, where I spend a lot of time.

There is a lot of laughter, a lot of humour and a lot of care put into what we do in our community, but being somebody who represents a growth area I was also very, very pleased that I was able to identify that Cranbourne is going to be home to one of the bush kinders. To have that word come through from the minister that Cranbourne is going to have access to those types of top-notch facilities is absolutely joyful for me as a local member, perhaps sometimes a way too parochial local member, but somebody who takes pride in the way our early childhood educators look after our kids’ futures.

I am very much looking forward to heading down to the Mayone-bulluk kindergarten in Cranbourne West to see how that bush kindergarten takes shape and to watch how the children in Cranbourne West get to enjoy the pleasure and important educational outcomes that come from having park and bushland settings able to be provided for them right in the heart of our growing south-eastern suburbs. I know even the member for Berwick here will be aware of the extraordinary number of young children not just being born into our area but moving into our area as well.

Here we have typical Labor progressive reform, and the contrast to those opposite is always obvious. We get things done. We are moving very quickly towards this reform and towards making sure that we can introduce Best Start, Best Life. I know that the parents at Rangebank kindergarten as well are very focused on the needs of young people in the community – a place of great need. But I do know that having Best Start, Best Life, having this legislation and having the capacity to be able to provide supply secure employment – for union members ideally – will let educators get the rights and responsibilities of safe, secure and well-paid work. I am absolutely delighted that this is legislation that I have been able to make a contribution to.

I commend this legislation, and I also pay credit to not just those who work in the ministers’ offices but also those public servants who work very hard to make sure that we have policy levers. There is a lot of hard work. I think it might have been the member for Preston who commented on the extraordinary amount of work that goes into reform. This is an area of great reform. There is no way that we are wasting a moment in getting action done to make sure that we can provide the best start in life to our children. I commend this bill, and I wish it a speedy passage.

Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (10:32): I am also delighted to rise today to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024, and it is even better to speak just after the hardworking member for Cranbourne and also to hear a proud mum, although looking after children in early childhood seems to have been a long time ago. In my case I will join her just to say little bit more. But how wonderful it is to be part of this Allan Labor government and also to stand on this side of the chamber to speak on this bill, knowing that we have so many educators here across the chamber, right from the member for Narre Warren South to the member for Mulgrave, and also yesterday we heard from the member for Frankston, who is also qualified and spent a lot of time as an educator.

I must confess Manette, my wife, has returned to work, and her first job after she returned to work about two months ago is as an early educator, after she completed her online studies for a bit more than one year. It is even better to see Sofia, known as Gucci by her older brothers, go to kindergarten at the same place where Manette works. I could not be prouder of Manette, my wife, and to see to see both of them come back home with big smiles day in, day out. That is just my short contribution about how proud I am as a father to see three-year-old kinder roll out and now again to be in this chamber to make a contribution.

This is another amazing bill and one that continues the Allan Labor government’s support for our youngest Victorians. We are leading the nation here in Victoria on early childhood education and care, and we can see that clearly through our $14 billion commitment to expand kindergarten programs across the state under our Best Start, Best Life reforms. We of course have heard so many contributions here from members about the 50 new government owned and operated early learning centres. It is an ambitious plan but one that is vital to address childcare shortages in the areas of greatest need. That need is present in my community and throughout south-east Melbourne.

I would also like to share, like the member for Cranbourne, about the young families that come from other parts of the world and call south-east Melbourne home. To see their youngsters attending early childhood education makes it possible for the parents to focus on building up their new life here in Australia, in Victoria. So I am very happy to see that one of the 14 sites set to open in 2025–26 is the early learning centre in Noble Park in the electorate of my good friend the member for Mulgrave. Congratulations to Noble Park. It will be at Harrisfield Primary School, so obviously this is a co-located early learning centre. We have heard about the benefits that co-located early learning facilities may provide for our families – mainly easier access to early learning programs, simpler and more convenient drop-off times and of course a smoother transition from early learning programs to school for children. I cannot help but shout out to the Westall education precinct in my electorate. We know that the early learning centre there and also the kindergarten are next to a primary school. Also in that precinct is Westall Secondary. So right from the start there is kindergarten at Westall, primary school at Westall and then secondary also at Westall. It is such a wonderful thing to see, and we know for sure that this is the right thing to do.

Best wishes to all those children and families that start school this year. I hope that things are going well and wish everyone – students, teachers and families – a safe and happy year at school this year. Starting school is an exciting time but also can be a challenging time for families, so the added value of a co-located early learning centre in terms of helping with a smooth transition is also very valuable. I come back to the experience that I saw firsthand at Westall kindergarten, Westall Primary School and Westall Secondary, where the older sibling can pick up the younger one and all can walk to and from school.

Again, it is exciting to see new early learning centres are in train in many places. There are so many fantastic early learning centres in our community, and I am really looking forward to visiting a couple of them later this month. I will be heading to Springvale South Goodstart before the end of the month to meet the centre director, Jhumur Ravi, and I will also be heading to the Acacia Avenue Kindergarten for an exciting announcement on the same day. It is very exciting that Acacia Avenue Kindergarten in Mentone is one of the recipients of a Building Blocks inclusion grant, which is a fantastic result for the kinder and for the local community. There is over $45,000 in support for an acoustic treatment for the three- and four-year-old kindergarten play space. That is really significant and something that we are looking forward to making sure that all children in the Acacia Avenue Kindergarten get the best start to life no matter their ability.

I am really hoping also to get to the Springvalley preschool in Springvale South in my electorate sometime in the near future. They are also a recipient of a Building Blocks inclusion grant. They have received $120,000 for the development of the sandpit and cubby area to make those more accessible for children of all abilities. These are fantastic initiatives that this government is really proud to support, making sure that everyone has the facilities and equipment that they need for a great start in life no matter their ability.

We can see the commitment that this government has to offer in terms of early childhood education and care, leading the nation and delivering unprecedented investment in early childhood education services so our youngest learners have world-class local kindergartens where they can learn and grow. We have seen that investment in the Best Start, Best Life reform, a $14 billion investment by the Labor government, transforming early childhood education to help children thrive, save families money and support parents, especially women, to return to work and study if they choose to. In my case, I have already confessed that my wife returned to work after completing her early learning pathway, and to see Sofia – Gucci – attending the kindergarten where my wife works is such a wonderful experience. We all grow together as a family.

Free kinder benefited more than 140,000 children last year, saving families up to $2500 a year, providing much-needed relief for family budgets, and giving more women a choice to return to the workplace. With pre-prep we will be continuing to lead the nation in early childhood education and care over the next decade, with a new universal 30-hours-a-week program of play-based early learning for four-year-old children. Best Start, Best Life is a $14 billion investment in our children and the future of our nation. I am extremely proud to support that investment and to support this bill here today. I am extremely proud to be part of an Allan Labor government that continues to lead the nation in early childhood education and care. I commend this bill to the house.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (10:42): I rise to support the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. We know that 90 ‍per cent of a child’s brain development occurs in their first five years and that kids who start kinder at three get a head start in life. Last year the house passed the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Land Powers) Bill 2023 to provide for the acquisition, use and development of land for early childhood education and care and associated services. This bill is another crucial step in realising Labor’s vision of Best Start, Best Life for every child in the state.

At the last election we committed to delivering 50 new low-cost childcare centres across the state in areas that need them the most, and I cannot tell you how proud I was to secure two of these in my electorate of Broadmeadows, one in Fawkner and one in Glenroy. Fawkner is one of the first to be delivered, and it was great to be at Moomba Park recently with the Premier and the minister to talk about this exciting program. This centre will be licensed for 130 kids to attend at a time, and it will also have community, meeting and playgroup spaces for local families to utilise. It will be conveniently co-located with maternal and child health services, because every family deserves local access to high-quality education and care no matter where you live or how much you earn.

Across all of the 50 government early learning centres we will have the opportunity to provide a range of associated services onsite, including allied health, parenting programs, family counsellors, toy libraries, maternal and child health services and other community spaces, making it easier for families to benefit from all the services that are available to them and also giving the community spaces to come together and socialise as we know how important that is, especially for newly arrived families and mothers, who can feel isolated. We have seen in Broadmeadows the success of the community hub model where newly arrived families learn English in one room and in the next room the kids are doing early learning and play-based activities. It gives them that sense of comfort and is a really good way for newly arrived families to get a feel for the education system here.

For many families in my electorate kinder is the first time kids interact with people outside their extended families. It is an opportunity to make lifelong friends, both for the children and their parents. This can help in establishing important social connections within the community and peer support for parents. I remember fondly my girls heading off to three-year-old kinder at Glenroy Memorial Pre-school, now part of the fabulous Glenroy Hub Children’s Centre. They were expertly supported in their preschool learning by their dedicated teachers, including Tanya, Vivian, Angela and Janine. There was no funding for three-year-old kinder when our children were enrolled, and that meant that a whole lot of families were not able to access this fabulous resource. Thirteen years later, and the friendships that both my daughters and I were able to make are still going strong. Our children have grown into mature, responsible and capable learners, and I acknowledge the impact that the early years had on their future. Our kids not only enjoyed the play-based learning activities of painting, Play-Doh, dress-ups, outdoor play on the climbing frames, swings and bikes, but they also learned social skills that are critical for development. This government is ensuring that all kids have the opportunities that three- and four-year-old kinder provides and the high-quality and affordable child care for the communities that need it most.

I thank the government for its resolve to improve the lives of our young Victorians, especially in areas where we need the services the most. The 50 early learning centres will be located in communities where there is insufficient child care and areas that are experiencing high rates of disadvantage. The locations have been based on the current availability of child care or the existing supply in the communities, the estimated demand for child care in these communities and the level of disadvantage based on the socio-economic index. They will be targeted to locations to help meet the needs of communities that are currently facing shortages or are likely to face shortages in the near future. You can see the changing demographic, particularly of Glenroy and Fawkner. When you walk around now there are prams everywhere; story time at the library is full. I know there are waiting lists for child care everywhere, so this will make a really big difference. It is an ambitious plan, but it is one that Victoria needs to be able to appropriately address the shortages in childcare facilities. I would like to thank the Minister for Children for her dedication to early childhood education and care and her incredible work in this portfolio, as well as the previous minister. I have had so many visits to local kinders with both ministers, and their office has provided constant support.

Early education is as important as primary and secondary school, and this government has taken concrete steps not only to recognise this but also to enshrine it in legislation. We know that for every dollar invested in early childhood education Australia receives $2 back over a child’s life through higher productivity and earning capacity and reduced government spending on health, welfare and justice. From tertiary education to the early years, Labor is doing what matters. Right across the state new kindergartens are being built, and existing services are being expanded to ensure they are accessible for all. As part of the 2023–24 state budget, the Victorian government invested $1.2 billion for the kindergarten infrastructure projects required for the continued expansion of three-year-old kinder and the transition to pre-prep. We are delivering an over $14 billion transformation in Victoria’s early childhood sector through our nation-leading Best Start, Best Life reform. It is the biggest investment in the early years in our state’s history and a huge step towards a brighter, more equal future for every Victorian family.

In my electorate alone over $40 million has been invested into kinders: $1.7 million for the Lorne Street kindergarten at Fawkner Primary School; $1.6 million for the Glenroy Hub Children’s Centre; $1.6 million for Will Will Rook Preschool; $1.47 million for Upfield Kindergarten at Dallas Brooks Community Primary School; $1.4 million for York Street Kindergarten at Glenroy West Primary School; $1.4 million for Glenroy Central Kindergarten; $1.35 million for Holy Child Early Years Centre, and it was great to go there with the minister for early education at the time and see the fabulous facilities there; $793,000 for Meadows Primary School Kindergarten, and that was actually the first of the community hubs, and it made such a difference to those families and the settlement of newly arrived families that it was replicated right around the state and is now replicated around the country; $640,000 for Belle Vue Park Primary; $542,000 for Dallas Kindergarten at Dallas Brooks Community Primary School; $479,000 for Broadmeadows Preschool; funding for an extra 33 places at Oak Park Kindergarten; investments at Fawkner Kindergarten, Campbellfield Preschool and Westmere Children’s Services Centre; and $641,000 invested at Gowrie Victoria Broadmeadows plus an expansion which we recently announced there. Gowrie does an incredible job of supporting vulnerable families. I have been there a number of times with a number of ministers, and it really showcases what we can do and how we can change lives from an early age. It also has one of the best First Nations programs around, and it is definitely worth looking into.

The budget also provided $48 million to support kinders and toy libraries to purchase equipment, support and expand the bush kinder program and create 10 new bilingual kinders; and $18 million to strengthen and modernise existing inclusion support for children with a disability and additional needs. I cannot tell you how important it is for families to be able to access early years support and child care when they have a child with a disability. I have heard of many situations in the past where children with a disability have been excluded from childcare centres and the harm that does to the whole family. It was great to see the bush kinder grants locally; I was able to get to nine of those in my electorate. The bush kinder programs are fun and educational, and they let kids play in nature while learning and growing.

We are also helping to attract staff to the industry through incentives and scholarships. As I spoke about yesterday, the Kangan Institute’s centre of excellence in health and community care will help train the next generation of early childhood workers as well as disability workers, healthcare workers and allied health workers. It is fabulous to have that in Broadmeadows, where we have got the workforce. To be able to train that up and help the government roll out the three- and four-year-old kinder across the state is great.

Under this government, we have made kinder free for three- and four-year-olds in the state for all participating families. This $270 million initiative is saving up to $2500 per family per child. Not only does this provide much-needed cost-of-living relief to young parents but it also allows women to return to the workforce. This year the program is anticipated to help approximately 140,000 kids across Victoria and provide over 28,000 Victorians with more flexibility in deciding to return to work. We are leading the nation in early childhood education and care, and that is something that we can be very proud of as Victorians.

In addition to this, Labor is also introducing the new, universal pre-prep program – 30 hours of play-based learning, fully funded. What a game changer that is – that is an incredible initiative that will just uplift everyone across the state. Thirty hours of free child care for every four-year-old is a critical step for parents who want to go back to work but cannot afford the childcare fees, but also for those social skills. I commend the bill – (Time expired)

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (10:52): It is great to rise on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. It was a bit of a shame to cut off the member for Broadmeadows in full flight. She probably would have done a better account of it than me, but I will give it my best shot. This area of reform is substantial for our state. It builds on an election commitment of the then Andrews government going into the 2022 election to build 50 ‍government owned and operated early learning centres, a commitment that so many of us in government were so proud of, and it builds on a storied legacy of Labor governments at state and federal level investing in early childhood education, because it just matters to our kids and the next generation.

I remember that at one of the first briefings I had as Parliamentary Secretary for Schools I had the opportunity to meet with some of the legends who run our early childhood sector out of the Department of Education and Training. To hear that they could track whether a three- or four-year-old had had kinder education through to their teens and the difference in outcomes and how that sets up kids was really powerful. It has always stuck with me just how important it is for us to lean in and invest as much as we can in early childhood education to give our kids the very best start and the very best opportunities.

When we think about how much has been achieved in a decade of early childhood reform, it is really important to reflect on the hard-fought policy outcomes that this government has delivered, sometimes not opposed – which is one of the positions that, curiously, the opposition take on this with ambivalence or by attacking some of the funding and investment that has been made. We know that from the early childhood reforms in 2009 of the then minister Kate Ellis, under the leadership of Prime Minister Rudd, we had huge reform of early childhood through the universal access to 15 hours of four-year-old kinder. That has set up communities across Australia, who now have that opportunity. We know that some of the landmark reports and recommendations in the early 2000s and mid-2000s said that there was not a differentiation between three- and four-year-old kinder – you could get in earlier and it was a really important thing to do. It is one thing to have that as a policy; it is another to realise the challenges that you need to undertake to build up the capacity, to build up the workforce and the capital, and how you do that postcode by postcode across our state.

That is exactly what we have done over a decade. We have been upgrading kinders in communities across Victoria. We are seeing that across the City of Greater Dandenong, the City of Kingston and across the south-eastern suburbs all the way out to the growth corridors. It has been really remarkable to see how governments can deliver a policy outcome and see that investment achieved, knowing that the generational change and outcomes will happen. We might not see the benefits of that investment until another generation, but we know that the investments made today will have such transformational power for kids and those outcomes. We know that education is the greatest enabler for children – anything you can do as a state government or federal government. That is why we are investing in building the Education State from kindy all the way through primary and secondary and into TAFE and tertiary education. Why wouldn’t you invest in this really important area?

The 50 early learning centres are a really important thing for our government to be committing to to deliver on that outcome and to invest in the workforce as well. This bill allows the Department of Education to have the necessary legislative powers to deliver those outcomes and the employment arrangements. One of the big elements in this story of early childhood reforms and the investment that has been made is the huge uplift in workforce. We need well over 10,000 new early childhood educators over the decade of these reforms. If anyone tuning in – the hundreds of thousands of Victorians that tune into Parliament each and every day to see us in action – is thinking, ‘What are we going to do into the future?’, choose early childhood education. It is one of the most amazing things that you can do.

I remember that, along with our Bayside Glen Eira Kingston Local Learning and Employment Network, we did an employment seminar effectively with education providers and leaders and students. There were a couple of students that had started on a trajectory thinking that they were going to do a bachelor of science or a bachelor of laws, but it was not their passion; it was not their calling. Not until they got an immersive experience in early childhood education did they realise, ‘That is my life purpose, that is my “why” in life and that is what I want to do.’ To hear those students describe their trajectory and how passionate they are to then be leaders in their particular early learning centre was amazing. These are the opportunities we are opening up for people, to lift their gaze and to see how they can be part of transforming their community and the outcomes for our youngest Victorians.

I have seen that this year as my little legend Orla goes into three-year-old kinder, that prekinder age. I have seen the benefits at Chelsea kinder with Paisley, who is in grade 2 now. The transformational element of three-year-old kinder and four-year-old kinder is just outstanding, and I give a big shout-out to all the early childhood educators who do such a wonderful job in our local community each and every day. We saw that particularly in the way they kept our little ones online during the pandemic with some of the video features they were doing, the adaptability, the changing nature of regulation and child safe standards and outcomes, the evolution of play-based learning and its development each and every year. It is a lot to pack in, and we thank them for all the work that they do in nurturing our youngest minds and Victorians.

Another key element of our work in the early childhood space is around free kinder. A lot of this is about cost of living, but it is also about getting people back to work and giving people the opportunity. We know care responsibilities are gendered. It is not from a lived experience that I see that but from those that tell me or have detailed to me in community what they go through. We see from all the stats that care outcomes for Victorians fall a lot to women. Through no fault other than having a family, so many in our community have their careers, their trajectories or just their balance in life and outcomes impacted. Free kinder is a workplace and workforce policy as much as it is a cost-of-living policy. It is to make sure that we are giving Victorians those options – the hours of kinder, money back in people’s pockets – but also supporting people back into the workforce if they choose to do that, giving that flexibility and opportunity. Some of the big childcare reforms we have just seen, where the threshold has been changed for childcare rebates, are also a really important element and a whole storied element of federal and state Labor governments always having the side of our youngest Victorians and the families that they come from, and supporting people into the future as well.

I want to also touch on another point around early childhood education. We know participation rates are something that we look really closely at in our early childhood space and the disproportionate impact on communities who are unable to access education. By providing free kinder, by providing that access, we ensure that people have more opportunities into the future as well, and that is a really lovely element. To make sure that in every single community free kinder access is an entitlement and a right for Victorians is really important as well. It will make sure that over the course of a child’s development and growth they are not left behind and that the cost of accessing early childhood education does not exclude people. That is one of the most wonderful elements of our reforms as well. It is a $14 billion investment over nearly a decade. It is something that Victorians can all be really proud of. The commitments that have been made around the 50 early learning centres are just another element of the work we are doing to make sure that early childhood education and its scale-up is accessible for all.

The final point I want to make is about pre-prep. Pre-prep is absolutely magnificent – 30 hours of the equivalent of four-year-old education. The now Minister for Planning and I, when we were the parliamentary secretaries for early childhood and schools, did a joint report for the minister on the transition from early years education to primary and how substantial that is. Any early childhood educators will know the transition statements they have to do to set their kids up as they transition into foundation. In that report we talked about how if we could do more to assist with that transition into the early primary years we should be doing it, while supporting the pedagogy of play-based learning up to the age of eight. This does that. The 30 hours of pre-prep is absolutely outstanding, and the scale-up, the investment and the aspiration around this are truly transformational. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of people thought three-year-old kinder was not possible to scale up, but now we see municipality after municipality scaling up their services. We see investments left, right and centre across our state being made. Pre-prep is really transformational.

There is a lot to talk about in this space. I am really proud of the next step in this bill, and I commend the bill to the house.

Jackson TAYLOR (Bayswater) (11:02): It is a great pleasure to rise and speak in support of the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. That was certainly a mouthful. I want from the outset to just say a great thankyou to everyone who has worked on this bill. It is always a great day to be in the Allan Labor government when we are here in this place, the people’s house, talking not just about education but particularly about early years education. We know it is so critical for government to be reforming, talking about and investing in early years education to make sure we are giving young people the very best start in life. I think we all have different ways of going about things, but I think we can agree in this place on that statement and making sure we set young people up for life.

The way that we do that is through reforms to the system. We have seen the reforms that this government has made, the Andrews and now Allan Labor governments. The reforms that we have made have been nation leading. We know they are nation leading because we look at all the other states who are now following on in our reforms. Of course there is the work that was done with the New South Wales government not too long ago. We now see other state governments, including Queensland, following in our footsteps with free kinder. I think they are calling it ‘kindy’ – that must be one of those scallops/potato cake type things. I do not know what they are called up in Queensland. It is too humid for me; every time you get off the plane it is like hitting a brick wall. Anyway, there are differences between Queensland and Victoria, but Victoria is absolutely leading the way when it comes to early years education.

I am very, very proud to be part of this government. I will of course get into some of that detail not just about this bill but more broadly about some of the local context and also the policies that our government is rolling out and has rolled out. It was fantastic to hear from previous speakers, including the member for Mordialloc. I always love to give a shout-out to the member for Mordialloc, talented member that he is –

Mathew Hilakari interjected.

Jackson TAYLOR: There is a bit of love, member for Point Cook, for the experience he has had and the depth of knowledge he brings not just in his professional role but from previously as the Parliamentary Secretary for Schools. Having worked alongside the member for Mordialloc, I understand his passion around education and the reforms that he was part of. You can clearly see them in the government.

I am very proud to call the member a good friend and to hear about his experiences and the importance of early years education, particularly as they apply to Orla and Paisley. Happy birthday to little Orla – three? Happy birthday. So of course there will be three-year-old kindergarten now, then moving on to four-year-old kinder and then pre-prep. It is all happening for the member for Mordialloc, so it is always wonderful to hear him talk in this place about his passion for early years in government but also in his own household.

From the member for Broadmeadows, hearing her passion and hearing her insights on the importance of early years educators was a very interesting speech to listen to. The member for Cranbourne and I were just talking before, and I think one thing we can all share and one thing I know the member for Cranbourne did that I would like to do is to give a shout-out to all the early years educators and the early years staff, not just in the electoral district of Bayswater but right across Victoria. These are huge reforms, and this bill is another step in the right direction, another step in reforming the system and making sure we have got the platform and we have got the foundation – the base – to roll out what is the most significant early years agenda we have seen in this country ever. That does not happen without the staff, without the educators doing their work day in, day out. I know that most members – in fact I am almost certain all members who have spoken on this – have given a shout-out and acknowledged the early years staff, because without them it simply does not happen.

Every time I go out – I have got a number of early years facilities in my patch – my first reflection is that I just could not do that myself. It is an absolutely mammoth job. Having become a father recently to young George, I know many of our early years staff are also parents themselves. Being a family outside of hours but also having to take those skills and apply them, obviously in different ways as an educator, in the workforce is just an incredible task. I do not know how they do it. I am very grateful to each and every one of them, and I always love listening to their insights about not just what the government’s reforms have meant to them but also ways that we can continue to improve. That is exactly what this government is doing – we are listening to our early years workforce. We are reforming the system. We are implementing changes to make their job easier but also to make the lives of Victorians easier.

This really, at the very heart of it, is also about addressing the cost of living and about getting people back into the workforce if that is what they choose to do. We know that our reforms in early years education ‍– over 20,000 families, when we talk about programs like free kinder – give them more flexibility. Pre-prep and expanding three-year-old kindergarten will mean that women, predominantly, if they choose to and they want to get back into the workforce, will be able to do so sooner because they have got a government that has their back. And they have not just got a government that has their back in terms of making the transition back into the workforce easier for them, an easier choice – although still a difficult one, of course, no doubt – but we are also helping to put money back in their pockets. Free kinder is a very, very important reform that is putting, on average, $2500 per child, per year – now $2563 or thereabouts – back into the pockets of families. That is a significant cost saving.

The best hits of early years education and what this government is doing: we have got three-year-old kinder. That is now 15 hours in pretty much most places, and that is continuing to roll out. That is making a huge difference. We have got four-year-old kinder, which is now free, which is now transitioning over the next few years into that pre-prep program. We know that we have stood by early years educators. We started a lot of this work during the tumultuous times of COVID. We have also now as part of this bill particularly gone to the very heart of our mechanisms around ensuring we can start the rollout of those 50 early years centres, critically important in those areas that need it most, because this government is not just about the policy. We are not just about those capital reforms that are needed in communities right across Victoria that desperately need more early years centres; that is exactly what this government is doing. We do not just talk the talk but we walk the walk as well.

In my electorate we have done some fantastic work when it comes to addressing capital needs as well. We have delivered $1.6 million for the new hub in Bayswater, a fantastic service that is pretty much a one-stop shop for everything early years related. That is a magnificent facility, delivered thanks to this Labor government. We have also delivered $1 million for a new facility currently under construction that will be run by Goodstart, a fantastic not-for-profit organisation that has a number of early years facilities in my part of the world. Notwithstanding that, there are indeed many, many others. That is looking like it is not far off being completed. And of course we have our free TAFE programs, which skill the workforce up, which makes it easier for people to choose what is a fantastic career for those who indeed want to choose it, and we know that there are more and more making that decision. This government’s job is to absolutely stand by them, back them in and support them.

Lauren Kathage interjected.

Jackson TAYLOR: Absolutely, member for Yan Yean – back them up. Thank you for chiming in – much appreciated. Unfortunately we know that this is not the case for everyone. I do not want to focus on other people in state government. Unfortunately locally in my patch Knox council have made a decision recently to exit out of kinders, and I want to use this opportunity to place on record my disappointment in them getting out of kinder services. It will essentially mean that you will have other providers that are not from local government stepping in to provide services. We know that there are a range of different providers, but with councils it is very much a highly valued service that they have run.

Part of the conversation was that perhaps this is not core business of council. Well, if early years education and educating and setting our young people up for the best start in life is not part of your core business, then what is? We often hear the criticism that councils should be roads, rates and rubbish. Now, I do not believe it, because I think that statement is rubbish. But very soon, if councils keep getting out of these services, which absolutely matter and which make a difference in the lives of people in my patch – and right across, whether you are Labor, Liberal, Greens or whatever the case may be – then that statement is going to ring true. I was extremely, extremely disappointed. Our free kinder was guaranteed revenue, reducing the cost in the budget to them to under $1 million per annum. Their own budget papers show this. We were backing them in. We had countless capital and Building Blocks grants, and yet they have made the decision.

However, our government is going to get on, continue to reform the system and make sure we have got our early years educators’ backs. We are going to keep helping to build new facilities like these 50 ‍early learning centres right across the state, and we are of course going to keep making sure we make it easy for Victorians to get back into the workforce. I support this bill.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (11:12): It is a delight to rise and speak on this bill. It is always a pleasure to follow the wonderful member for Bayswater, who brings such passion and energy to every debate. He speaks so quickly I wonder if his speeches have to be much, much longer. But he certainly is utterly committed, and it is always a delight to follow him.

I am very happy to rise to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. This is a really important bill in that it provides the necessary legislative framework for us to start to institute what was a commitment in the 2022 election. I remember when this commitment was made, and at that stage there was a commitment to have one of these 50 low-cost centres situated in what was then my electorate, the electorate of Buninyong. It is, however, now in the electorate of Ripon, and I am delighted that the wonderful member for Ripon will be able to be there and stand side by side with the community of Napoleons as they deliver one of these centres.

The centres really are aimed at making sure that there is good early childhood education in areas that need it the most, and I think that was a really important part of this commitment. Certainly the member for Bayswater commented on this as well. It is one thing for us to believe and to support, as we do, early childhood education, but what I love about this government is that we also make sure that it is accessible to the people that need it the most. This is targeted and thought through as a policy, and a lot of work was done to identify which communities really need that support. I look forward to seeing those roll out.

Of course, as many other speakers have mentioned so far, this is just another Lego block, if you like, in this government’s absolute commitment to early childhood. It is nothing short of a revolution that this government has brought to this incredibly important space in the last few years. It comes back to that very basic understanding that those early years are incredibly important developmental years, so this government has really wrapped around families across Victoria to find ways to support every little Victorian to get the best start in life. That can be things like these 50 early learning centres, but the free kinder is just a revolution – a $2500 saving for families per child. I am the mother of two boys. That would have been really helpful back in those days. They are a bit big now –

Jackson Taylor interjected.

Michaela SETTLE: Send them back to kinder? That is one way that we can support people in a time of high cost of living, but what I love about this government is the breadth of thought that goes into developing these ideas.

Another one that really hits home to me is the idea of putting these kinders in schools. I have done the mummy run – sorry, the daddy run – the parents’ run. I have done the parental run where you have one kid at kinder and one kid at school and they are both due at the same time. Thankfully I lived in the small regional town of Ararat, so it was not too far to get from one side of town to the other. But for many people that is a really difficult time of day, so a simple idea of putting kinders in schools can absolutely change the lives of many, many families.

We have to stand back and say this government has revolutionised early childhood. I look to the other side, and the best they could do was to cancel Free Fruit Friday. This government likes to develop and move forward. Those on the other side like to cut things, but I think we all know that pretty well.

As I say, it has been a long time for me, but the change to having kinders in schools is going to be significant. I was really delighted to go to Ballan, which is a wonderful little town in my electorate. Ballan is going to have one such kinder co-located with the school. I talked to the principal about it, and he said from his perspective that the changes in kids transitioning are going to be huge as well. Not only does it benefit parents but it is also benefiting the teachers because these kids will have been co-located so when they start that first day in prep they will be much more comfortable. They will know the area; they will know where they are. As I say, I am really happy to have that in Ballan. I would say, ‘Watch this space.’ I am hoping there are many more to come in my electorate. I certainly know that the minister is working very hard to make sure that those new kinders are across the regions, because to me the regionality is utterly important.

But that is not where our commitment to these years stops. I was absolutely delighted to have the Minister for Children from the other place up in my neck of the woods just last week. She was there to announce grants for bush kinder. They are not huge grants, they are a few thousand dollars – but the difference that it makes to those kids. We were at a wonderful kinder, the Mount Helen early learning centre. It is in Ballarat. They are going to spend their money on gumboots and coats. The Yarrowee River runs across from the early learning centre, and they are going to be able to take those kids there. They have partnered with Fed Uni, they have partnered with the local Friends of Canadian Corridor group and they are going to get the kids out there and get their hands dirty. It is a wonderful, wonderful program. It was lovely to have the minister with me. She also visited the Perridak Burron Early Learning Centre. This is an amazing centre in Ballarat. It is run by BADAC, which is the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative, and they have three services that they provide for the community. There is one just for Indigenous kids, and there are two which are open to all kids but with an emphasis on understanding First Nations people and their culture.

They are beautiful centres when you get in there – the earthy colours and all of the things that they teach. I would like to give a particular shout-out because the Perridak Burron Early Learning Centre won the inaugural Aunty Rose Bamblett Koorie Early Years Legacy Award. This is an award that acknowledges Aunty Rose, who was an absolute leader in First Nations early childhood education. We have got these three centres: Yaluk Burron, Yirram Burron and Perridak Burron. ‘Burron’ means ‘children’, so we have River Children, Morning Children and Platypus Children, and they are absolutely beautiful centres. We have the wonderful minister at the desk, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, who I believe is coming to visit us very soon in Ballarat – I was not sure if I was allowed to say next week – and I am looking forward to it. I think that is one of the things we are going to be talking to BADAC about, these wonderful centres. I know that the minister will be delighted to hear about this important work.

The bill really is about facilitating employment. The clue is in the name: I belong to the Labor Party. One of the things we really care about is workers rights and conditions. What is wonderful here is that this bill will absolutely enshrine that government early learning centres will offer fair wages and conditions that are consistent with established industry benchmarks. Government ELCs have access to the same Victorian kindergarten workforce supports that every other early learning centre does.

This is an incredibly important bill. It is about our absolute revolution in early childhood, but it is also about protecting and supporting the extraordinary workforce that stands behind this revolution. They are the people – we put our children in their hands. We trust them. They need to be able to trust us, and with this bill they know they have a government that stands with them.

Darren CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (11:22): It is with some pleasure that I rise to make my contribution on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. I must say I do this with my Labor colleagues with a very strong commitment to and passion for the future of the state of Victoria. We recognise in the Labor government, and indeed in the labour movement, the productivity-enabling power that comes from investing in early education and in education – whether it be school-based or TAFE or indeed university education – to unlock the productivity and potential of the state of Victoria and every single family and individual that exists. Education is a great enabler. It empowers people; it gives people the opportunity perhaps to step above and beyond where their parents potentially got. That is why we are so committed to making the investments that we have been making as the Andrews Labor government, and now the Allan Labor government, into our education.

Indeed when you look across the Australian continent, when you see Labor in government – it does not matter which jurisdiction – you see those investments being made in every single corner of the state of Victoria and indeed every single corner of Australia. We very much see the potential and the opportunity to make those investments. That is why my colleagues have been so successful in lobbying. At the end of the day we believe in it, our cabinet believes in it, our education ministers believe in it and our early education and training ministers believe in it, and that is that investment is so very important.

For a whole bunch of reasons, not every family gets the same opportunity to access education. Indeed that is very much the case with early education. That is why we took to the people of Victoria over the last year or two a commitment to deliver in parts of the state where historically the private sector has failed. We recognise the power of government intervention to empower those communities where the private market has historically failed.

I certainly know about, as do my colleagues, because we of course do actively engage with our educators in our own communities and we indeed do engage with the key education stakeholders in this state, and we very much recognise their contributions to our families and to our communities, and the work they do is so very, very critically important. As I have said, at times the private sector, the private marketplace, will fail, and in the context of this bill we are stepping in where there has been that failure and we are directly intervening and providing support to 50 communities where we know that without our intervention there would be no offering, no policy solution, no opportunity for mums and dads to get back into the workplace because there is no available service for their families. I am so proud that we have stepped up and intervened in this way. Of course there is a significant list of the kinder services and the childcare services that we are going to support this year, next year and into the years to come.

In my context, in my seat, I have a very significant number of educators that live within my community who of course work across the broader Geelong and Surf Coast regions. I have the opportunity to talk to them in their workplaces and I have the opportunity to talk to them when I am out and about in my community at local sports clubs or when I am doing street stalls, and I have heard and taken the opportunity to listen to them describing their work and describing how their work impacts kids and families. I do want to, like a lot of my colleagues, just take that opportunity to thank them.

In terms of this particular bill, this bill does a number of things to ensure that the Secretary of the Department of Education has invested in them the necessary legal powers to ensure that they can go about employing people to deliver these important services to this important part of the economy. This will enable the secretary of the education department to employ teachers and all of the other staff that are important to the delivery of these services.

Again, when I think about my five years that I have been in this place I think I have spoken more on education than on any other topic I can think of. Early on it was our reform agenda in the TAFE space. More recently it has been our reform agenda by adding additional courses to the free TAFE list. I have had the opportunity to speak about the budget successes in my community with respect to funding modernisations of existing schools and indeed funding new schools for Geelong’s growth corridor that sits within my seat.

We have been a big reforming government when it comes to education. The investments have been significant, and that is making a real difference, particularly to working Victorians – those that often do not have the means to make other choices with respect to their education, often as a consequence of the type of work they themselves might do and where they fit in. Education is a great enabler. Giving young people the best opportunity, no matter what choices their parents can afford to make, is so important. Every single dollar we invest in our education system comes back to us tenfold as a society, because that individual will be more productive, they will be happier, they will be able to participate in our economy and in our society in the fullest way that they can through the enabling that comes from that education. That is why we will continue to make those investments.

I have no doubt that in the years to come – as our state continues to grow, as population shift continues to happen, as we continue to see more challenges and more opportunities – a government like us with the ambition that we have will see us continue to strive and invest in education. I am so pleased that we have brought this bill to this house at this important time to unlock the opportunities in these 50 ‍communities, to set up that legal framework and to get on with giving every single family, no matter where they are, the options that they need to set their kids up for a happy and productive future. I commend this bill to the house, and I look forward to its speedy passage.

Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (11:32): It gives me great pleasure to rise this morning and make my contribution on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024. Indeed this policy builds on the Allan Labor government’s flagship $14 billion Best Start, Best Life reforms. It is a policy that at its core delivers free early childhood education to those that most need it as well as 50 brand new, government-run early learning centres in communities that need them most – communities like my community of Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing, communities like my community of Wyndham and indeed many outer suburban communities with exploding child populations, and communities with exploding child populations that the private sector has been unable to cater for. It is the role of good government to intervene in the market when we need to, to intervene in the market when there is a critical, essential service that is not being met by the private sector. That was absolutely the case in early childhood learning.

You have heard many speakers before me and indeed you have heard many speakers prior to today speak about how incredibly important education is in those formative years. There is a whole host and raft of research that points to the fact that children that have access to both three-year-old and four-year-old kinder go on to have better results and an easier start to their schooling life than those that do not. In Victoria we believe that every child, irrespective of their parents’ pay cheque, irrespective of their relationship to power and irrespective of their geographical circumstances, deserves the absolute best start to their education. This bill that we are debating today builds on our existing commitment to do exactly that.

Our Best Start, Best Life reforms are fundamentally about education, but they go far further than that. We are in the middle of inflationary pressures that we have not seen in this country for some time. I remember five, six years ago, when my children were attending four-year-old kinder, the cost that that put on the family budget. These reforms go such a long way to alleviating some of that cost-of-living pressure for Victorian families. For communities like those I represent that are experiencing negative cash flow on a weekly basis, that cost-of-living relief is so incredibly important. To know that the pressure of making sure that your child or children get the best start to their educational life without having to do it on a credit card, without having to borrow money, without having to put further pressure on that weekly budget is something that is incredibly special, and I know that families in my electorate that have enrolled their children in free kinder are so incredibly appreciative of this enormous reform.

The community of Tarneit, the electorate of Tarneit, as I have said before, have been incredibly lucky. I should not say lucky, but they have really benefited from Victoria continuing to be the Education State. We have opened four new schools in the last two years, and we will open a new school next year as well, but our commitment to early childhood learning has also been so incredibly significant. We have spoken about co-locating kinders and early childhood learning centres within schools in Victoria. It is just an incredibly sensible thing to do. Why former governments did not do more of it I will never know. Obviously saving time every single morning and saving time every afternoon on pick-up and drop-off is something that is really convenient for families. My electorate is no different. The Minister for Education and I opened Wimba Primary School only a few weeks ago, and there is the Wyndham Vale Primary School Kindergarten. Davis Creek Primary School also has a kindergarten, and they have been lucky enough to get a $6000 grant for bush kinder as well, just like the member for Eureka was speaking about earlier. It gave me great pride to attend Davis Creek, with principal Philip Fox, to announce that. Riverdale North Primary School, which will be opening next year, will have a kindergarten added to it as well. Good News Lutheran College received a $2 million grant from the Allan Labor government for a co-located kindergarten on their site.

As I have said, these reforms are fundamentally about early childhood learning, but we have also spoken about cost of living, and the member for Mordialloc rightly pointed out that this amendment also goes to workplace reform. Our early childhood educators form one of the most important workforces that we have in this state to get our kids off to the best educational start. But with these reforms and with more early childhood learning centres out there, we also need to increase our workforce. This bill goes to doing just that. It will amend the Education and Training Reform Act ‍2006 to provide the state with the necessary legislative powers to operate early learning centres in Victoria as part of our reforms. The bill will also expand the overall scope of the act in matters relating to early childhood education and care and create a new government workforce under the act. In my opinion, it will also be incredibly good for workers to be employed in the government sector rather than by private day care centres.

The bill will provide the Secretary of the Department of Education with the appropriate powers to employ and manage the early learning workforce that will provide early childhood education and care at the government centres. In addition, the bill will also provide for the payment of fees for attendance at government early learning centres and make other necessary minor amendments to support the delivery of programs at those government centres. As I said, these flagship reforms are so important to give Victorian kids the best start to their education that they can have. We are delivering 50 new centres where we need them most – places like Tarneit and the outer suburban growth areas, which the private sector and the market have failed to keep up with previously. Our government is happy to intervene in the market for something that is so incredibly important for Victorian kids. I commend the bill to the house.

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (11:42): I move:

That the debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.

Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day.