00:00Striding forward from a tough political winter, the PM sought to steady his fortunes by sketching
00:09a new future for the nation's childcare centres.
00:14A precondition for a successful sector is paying workers a decent wage.
00:22The Prime Minister and his ministers were armed with $3.6 billion to fund a bumper pay
00:28rise.
00:29Our early educators deserve a gold medal. They also deserve a pay rise.
00:34Nobody begrudges an increase in the wages of any worker, let alone childcare workers,
00:41but it's not going to be of benefit to the childcare workers if we just see interest
00:45rates stay higher for longer.
00:46The award rate is currently $1,032 for a standard full-time week. A 10% rise in December will
00:53add $103 to that. A 5% lift a year later adds a further $52 to take the weekly wage to $1,187.
01:05It opens up so many opportunities for other women to come into early childhood education
01:09and care and know that their professional skills are going to be valued.
01:13In return for the government funding the pay rise, childcare operators will have to rein
01:17in the soaring cost of care by limiting any fee hikes for the life of the agreement.
01:23It's good for workers and it's good for parents. And at its heart, this is good for education
01:30for the next generation.
01:32I'm Anthony and this is Jason and this is Anne.
01:36With the government examining universal childcare, the nation's children can expect to hear those
01:41introductions a lot between now and the next election.
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