Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Today I'd like to give a shout-out. We all know the vital role of early childhood educators across Australia. I want to explain why the sector deserves significantly more investment and support. When you walk into an early childhood centre, you see smiling faces and warm, welcoming educators ready to support your children at the beginning of their day and at the beginning of their educational journey. But what you're really seeing are qualified educational professionals performing one of our most complex and demanding jobs.

I'm sure early childhood educators would love it if the job was simply teaching, but the role is much more than that. They're mentoring children through emotional development, helping them navigate reasoning and making sense of our complex world. Any parent can tell you how often a child can ask 'Why?' in a day, and that's when they're you own kid. A roomful of them feeding off each other is a battle royale of patience. These educators update us about our kids' days when the children are too tired to tell us themselves. They support our children's excitement and curiosity as they move through their days. They create spaces where wellbeing isn't just a buzzword but a fundamental principle ensuring our children get the best opportunities. That's what these unsung heroes do. They're there when parents can't be. When we're at work, that's when their work begins. It's not babysitting; it's nurturing.

So, when we pay them babysitting wages, we show them how little we value that nurturing. And then we make cuts and tweak regulations, and the ones who to have to make that work are those smiling faces and unsung heroes. Currently, we're seeing profit being put before children. We're seeing an essential sector underfunded while underresourced staff are underpaid, and they are left burnt out and quit. Who does that benefit? We think we're saving money, but are we? There's no way to run a railroad having to constantly hire, rehire, train and retrain. Continuity doesn't occur. Kids lose out. That's not the system our children deserve, and it's certainly not the working conditions our educators deserve.

Tasmania is trialling early learning for three-year-olds across five sites: Bruny Island down south, East Devonport in the north-west, Zeehan on the west coast, St Marys on the east coast and an online option for Flinders Island. This trial recognises what we know to be true: that learning starts early and quality early childhood education gives children the foundation they need to thrive. I remember having to return to work when my children were young. My kids' early childhood educators gave me the confidence to go to work, knowing not only that my boys were physically and emotionally cared for but also that their learning and development were being actively supported. These educators teach children to concentrate, share, and take turns, skills that—let's be honest—many of us in this place are still trying to learn. That's why I want to see in this space more investment, better regulations and more support for early childhood educators.

These professionals deserve recognition for their vital role. They deserve opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive, and they absolutely deserve to be paid fairly. Early childhood centres should be spaces where both educators and children flourish with good outcomes. The people working in these centres are smart, strong, and qualified educational leaders. They are also the managers who keep everything running smoothly in the complex world of early childhood education. I support increased investment in early childhood education because it works. The evidence is clear, the need is obvious and the benefits compound over generations. This is what the research tells us. We hear this all the time from experts in this space. Early education is the greatest return on investment in the education space. In fact, if we care about improving people's standards of living then early childhood education is our secret weapon, and we're paying fast-food wages. To our early childhood educators, I say: Happy Early Childhood Educators' Day. I'm so grateful to you for what you do, and I'm sorry we aren't doing more to help you as partners.