Workers in childcare to get 15 per cent wage increase
The Federal Government has announced a bumper 15 per cent wage rise for childcare workers funded by taxpayers to the tune of 3.6 billion dollars. In return childcare operators will have to rein in rapidly rising fee hikes with a new maximum allowable rise of 4.4 per cent.
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TVTranscript
00:00I believe that every early childhood employer in the country wants to make sure that their
00:06workforce has the best chance of success. We know that wages are a really important
00:11part of that. We know that parents can't afford to pay more for that. And that's why we believe
00:16that this announcement is a really positive announcement that delivers on improved wages
00:21for our workforce, but importantly, makes sure that parents don't have to pay for it.
00:27And so I think there is a large proportion of services that will be really, really quickly
00:31looking at what's involved in making the decision to join this with the view to having their
00:37workforce benefit as soon as possible.
00:38Yeah. So is it exactly clear to you what's involved in this? There's this guarantee of
00:444.4% cap over the next year, but then what happens after then?
00:49The advice we've received to date is that, you know, that is the government's constraint
00:54sets at 4.4% for year one, and that there's a bit of work for them to do to determine
00:59what that is for the second year of this grants program there. You know, we're obviously always
01:04keen to work with government and understanding how the first year will work in practice and
01:09what that means for service providers. But importantly, to understand if there are any
01:14implications of that restraint and how we can shape that to avoid any, you know, things
01:20that may not work effectively with it.
01:23What do you make of the fact that it's not locked in exactly what's going to happen in 12 months?
01:27Look, you know, clearly, as much certainty as possible is what we'd always strive for.
01:33But we know big reform is not easy and big reform takes time. And trying to get, you
01:37know, getting it right over the longer term is just as important as having all the information
01:43up front. You know, we've worked really collaboratively with government through supported bargaining
01:49and through other means. And no doubt, you know, we'll raise what we need to raise with
01:53government along the way. But ultimately, you know, we know that today is really about
01:58making sure that the recognition for our educators has comes to and that they can benefit as
02:04quickly as possible.
02:05So overall, you're pretty happy with this setup?
02:09Yeah, look, we're really comfortable, you know, we've called for, you know, we believe
02:13that this announcement really validates our advocacy over a long time in that, you know,
02:18whilst we all have always wanted to improve wages for our workforce, that unfortunately,
02:23without government funding, that would result in increased fees for families.
02:26And so we believe the government's listened to that and listened to that advocacy.
02:31And we found ourselves in a place where they have made that announcement.
02:34Now, there's a bit of work to do still.
02:36And there's a bit of, you know, a lot of detail to navigate in the next few weeks.
02:40But we feel that we're in a really strong place to be able to put that into effect.
02:44And so how many extra childcare workers are needed right now?
02:50The numbers vary across the country.
02:52I think, you know, what we know is last year we surveyed our members across the country.
02:56We had about 700 services respond to that survey and 60 per cent of those services were
03:01capping the number of children they were enrolling on a daily basis, causing difficulties for
03:06families accessing care.
03:09What we're hoping is that this announcement does three things.
03:13One, it ensures the people who are working in the sector at the moment stay in the jobs
03:17they love. Two, that it really ensures that anybody who's left the sector for money will
03:22consider returning, which might solve some of those capped places, problems that we
03:27have. And three, that anybody thinking of joining our sector now doesn't think that
03:32money is a barrier for doing so.
03:34Yeah. And so are you pretty confident then that this pay rise will attract a significant
03:39number of extra workers?
03:41Oh, we believe so. We think this is a really big narrative shift for attracting people
03:47into our sector, both returning or new.
03:50And, you know, we know that time will tell and time will give us the evidence to say
03:56that whether this is correct or not.
03:58But, you know, this is a huge step forward and something that we know is going to be
04:05truly valued by the workforce.
04:07Yeah. And so, yeah, it really does seem that there is a lot of people very happy with
04:13this proposal today.
04:16Are you looking for anything else from the government on this to ensure this works?
04:23Look, the key thing is, you know, our communication with the government in the weeks
04:27ahead. You know, we're part of a multi-employer bargaining process that will conclude in
04:31the weeks ahead that have brought about these changes there.
04:35You know, all that detail around what does the funding look like, how do the grants get
04:40paid and what that is, is really just the semantics of trying to put something into
04:45effect. But we know that, you know, we're here to work together with government to make
04:52sure that our educators will benefit.