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.
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