Ms BYRNES (Cunningham) (17:29): The Albanese Labor government believes that every child has the right to access early education, and the member for Lalor, who was just in here, was speaking about how quite often the only place that some children feel safe is at school or in early education. She was spot on about that. We are committed to ensuring that all Australians have access to quality education, from early childhood education and care all the way through to university. We know that early childhood education is crucial to helping children develop the skills that they need to succeed in school and in life.
All of us in this building have a responsibility to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to high-quality education, and this bill, the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025, will make that a reality for thousands of families across the country, including in the Illawarra. Currently in the Illawarra, many parents are struggling to find available early childhood education places due to long waiting lists. This is putting pressure on families, as one parent, often mothers, are having to delay their return to the workforce because they can't find affordable and available childcare places. This reduces household incomes and limits career progression for the parent who has elected to stay home to care for their child. Businesses also feel the strain, as they struggle to retain skilled workers who are unable to return or are having to leave their job due to caregiving responsibilities.
Addressing these challenges isn't just about supporting families and children. It's also about strengthening our workforce and our economy as a whole. Our government has already started taking steps to build a universal early education and care system that provides quality education. We have delivered cheaper child care, which cut the cost of care for more than one million families. We passed legislation that will see our early childhood education and care workers get a 15 per cent pay rise. We are investing over $1 billion in a Building Early Education Fund to build and expand early education and care centres in areas of need. We are working with the sector to develop an early education service delivery price to better understand the cost of delivering services around the country and to also shape future reform.
The Albanese Labor government believes that every child has the right to early education, to help make sure that they don't start school behind. The three-day guarantee ensures that all children, regardless of their parents' work or study status, have access to that quality early learning. Through this bill we are replacing the Liberals' activity test and introducing this three-day guarantee in early education from 5 January next year. The three-day guarantee will increase entitlements for over 100,000 families, with 66,700 families expected to be better off in the first full financial year of implementation—and no families will be worse off. The bill guarantees that all families will receive 72 hours or three days of childcare subsidy each fortnight. Additionally, families caring for First Nations children will be guaranteed 100 hours of subsidised child care per fortnight.
Those opposite introduced the activity test in July 2018. It promised to enable and encourage greater workforce participation and simplify childcare payments. This, however, was not the case. Instead of making child care more accessible, like they promised, it created new barriers to workforce participation, added complexity to the childcare system and made it harder for families to access early childhood education and care.
I reached out to the early childhood education and care centres in Cunningham to understand just how this would impact them and the families that they serve. Anita Kumar is the CEO of ECTARC Early Childhood Services and Training, who have 11 early education and childcare centres in the Illawarra and the Shoalhaven. Anita is a passionate advocate for the early childhood education and care industry, recognising the vital role that the sector plays in supporting families, fostering child development and strengthening the workforce. She said:
The Albanese Government's 3-Day Guarantee, which replaces the Activity Test and ensures children can access early childhood education and care, is widely welcomed by the sector.
This initiative supports the development and wellbeing of all children while supporting the workforce issues across industries.
She says:
Every child has a right to Education no matters what their parent's circumstances.
She also says,
In Australia, we keep talking about "having a fair go" and the Three Day Guarantee policy epitomises that, giving every child, no matter where they live, or who their parents are, an opportunity to access early childhood education.
Kim Bertino is the CEO of Big Fat Smile, who have 34 centres around New South Wales, with the majority being in the Illawarra region. Kim is another passionate advocate, who said:
At Big Fat Smile, we are excited about the news that legislation to enact the Guarantee will be introduced into Parliament and we urge all parties to work together to get the law passed by Parliament as soon as possible.
She says:
The Three Day Guarantee will remove a significant barrier which has stopped many children experiencing disadvantage accessing early learning and created unnecessary red tape for families.
Families in regional areas and First Nations families have been particularly hard hit, and we can see this in the Illawarra and surrounding areas.
Cassie, who is a very dedicated and passionate early education educator working in my electorate, said:
I think it's super beneficial for children and for families.
Children being in care isn't just about playing with play dough, it's about supporting them to learn the key skills they will use for the rest of their lives.
She says:
Children who don't access care before kindy are more likely to struggle to develop their find motor skills, social skills, emotional regulation and independence.
I also think this will help primary school teachers, children who we can flag as needing more support before they go to school will give teachers a better opportunity at managing behaviours and not being thrown in the deep end from day 1.
She also says:
If we have more days with them to build skills, or support families to seek developmental support, they're already heading down the right track.
These comments highlight the critical importance of this bill, from the experts, which will ensure that every child has access to quality early education. Ensuring that every child has access to early learning isn't just about fairness. It's about investing in our future. We are giving every child, no matter what their background, the opportunity to learn, to grow and to thrive from the earliest years of their life. By guaranteeing a minimum level of subsidised early education, we are not only giving our kids the best possible chance in the future; we are also supporting families and our teachers.
This reform will also help to strengthen our economy. A more accessible and affordable early childhood education system means that more parents can return to work, boosting productivity and easing workforce shortages across our key industries.
The benefits of early learning are clear. Studies show that children who participate in quality early education are more likely to succeed in school, develop strong social skills and achieve better long-term outcomes. That's certainly what we've heard in the comments from our local experts in the Illawarra.
For disadvantaged children, access to early learning is even more critical, helping to close developmental gaps before they widen. The Albanese Labor government is determined to give every child the best start in life. We will continue working with early childhood educators, parents and teachers, and industry leaders to strengthen and expand early learning opportunities. This bill is a step towards a stronger and fairer system—one that works for families, supports businesses and sets our children up for success.
