Wednesday, 27 August 2025

 Darren CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (09:56): I am sure almost everyone here in this chamber at one point in their working lives has accessed child care delivered through either the not-for-profit, the for-profit or the local government delivered childcare sector. And I am sure all of us have been absolutely appalled by what has happened here in Victoria but also across the nation with respect to how vulnerable young children have been exploited. I very much commend the work that has been done by the national government and by the leadership of all of the states and territories in addressing some of these issues. However, there has been, I think, a very big gap in the conversation to date, and that is of course the wages of those workers in this particular sector. It is dominated by women, it is dominated by workers working in a casualised environment, and it is dominated by, I think, far too low mandatory education requirements for those education workers. I very much want to see this issue addressed as a part of the reform agenda. I think if we can address the wages of these workers, we can further improve this sector.