Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has said he wants early education and care to be his legacy, but his actions and the actions of his government are telling a completely different story. A legacy is something you build, something you fight for that ideally improves the lives of people. But this budget does no such thing for families across this country. There is no real progress on affordability or access, no meaningful move towards universal child care, and looming pay cuts for 60,000 early childhood educators in one of the country's lowest-paid industries.

After all the speeches, the glossy announcements and the self-congratulations, Labor has delivered nothing that brings Australia meaningfully closer to universal child care. They've spent months boasting about educator wage increases through the worker retention payment, a payment that expires in November. You would think this budget would at the very least guarantee those hardworking educators keep the pay rise that they originally received; instead, under Labor's watch they will face a cruel and unnecessary pay cut right before Christmas—I mean, come on. What a slap in the face to workers who have held this sector together through some of its toughest years.

Last week's announcement of an early childhood education and care commission is something the Greens have been calling for for over a year to address the childcare crisis, but when you open the budget papers there is nothing there—no funding, zero—just more consultation, another talkfest, another press release dressed as action, quite the legacy, Labor, well done. Because if Labor had the courage to take on the one per cent multinational corporations and make them pay their fair share, we could build a universal childcare system tomorrow and still have money left over—not good enough.