Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Hodgins-May. And thank you, as the Greens spokesperson on early childhood education and care, for your support for and interest in this legislation and for your significant engagement with my office and, more broadly, with stakeholders on this really important piece of legislation.

This bill is incredibly important. We said that child safety was our top priority when it comes to early childhood education and care. We said we would introduce a bill in the first sitting of this parliament to make sure that we have a new power as the Commonwealth to withdraw Commonwealth childcare subsidy from those providers who don't put children first. That is exactly what we are here to do today—to pass this legislation, to be united as one parliament to do that and to make sure that we can keep children safer in early learning. We know that the Commonwealth childcare subsidy is a big lever that we have to pull, and it is a lever that we intend to use. Our message to providers who are not doing the right thing is that we want you to lift your game. Our priority is to work with those providers and work with our state regulators to do exactly that. We're really proud of this bill. We know that it will go a long way to sending a really strong message to providers across the board that they must invest in quality and safety in early childhood education.

We are a strong supporter of Aboriginal community-controlled early childhood education. We know that early education is an absolute game changer for children. It is particularly a game changer for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, including First Nations backgrounds. We know, even from recent Closing the Gap data, just how much of a game changer early childhood education is in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and we know that culturally safe early childhood education is the key to good outcomes for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We will continue to work with and support the ACCO sector, including in relation to this bill.