Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What reforms is the Albanese Labor government delivering to help more children from disadvantaged backgrounds get access to early education and care, and improve the safety of our early education and care system? What are the risks?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend, the absolutely magnificent member for McEwen, for his question. A year ago today we passed laws through parliament to enact the three-day guarantee and a month ago today we delivered it. It means every child who needs it can get access to the child care subsidy three days a week.

We know how important child care is for mums and dads—it helps them to get back to work—but it's also important for our children. This is a time when most of the brain develops. We know that a child who goes to preschool is 1½ times as ready to start primary school as a child that doesn't. Ask any primary school teacher, and they'll tell you they can identify the children who have been in early education and care. This is not babysitting. That's why it was the Productivity Commission that recommended this change—the three-day guarantee.

Their advice to us is that it's children from the most disadvantaged families—the poorest families in Australia—who get the biggest benefit from early education and that they are the ones who are least likely to be there in early education and care. That's because of the old activity test that meant their mums and dads couldn't get access to the government subsidy, and so it's their children who missed out and started behind. That now changes with the three-day guarantee. It means, for affected families earning between $50,000 and $100,000, they will save about $1,500 a year, and it means that their children will get access to the same sort of early education and care that other kids can.

I've also been asked about safety, and I can advise the House that personal mobile phones in centres have now been banned, that Commonwealth compliance officers are now up and running and doing unannounced spot checks, that the national CCTV trial has started, that the Australian Federal Police is now also part of the advisory group on that, that the national educator register will start at the end of this month, and that mandatory safety training for all staff in centres will start at the end of this month.

Members will also remember that we passed legislation through this place last year to give us the power to cut funding to centres that aren't up to scratch—that aren't meeting minimum safety standards. So far, we've sent notices to more than 60 services across the country. For some of those 60 services, that deadline that we have set for them is fast approaching. I'll have more to say about that in the next few weeks.