E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: Pay rise for early childhood educators, Dutton’s cuts
I'm Justine Elliot, I'm the Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence.
Well, I'm really pleased to be talking about the fact the Albanese Labor Government is funding a 15% increase for our childcare workers. These workers are so important, and we're really proud to be funding this wage increase.
It will make a huge difference in terms of retaining and recruiting childcare workers. And of course, our childcare workers do an incredible job providing really good learning environments and care for our very young Australians. And just last week, I was at a childcare centre and heard firsthand what a difference it will make to have this 15% wage increase for these really important workers. Of course, industries like childcare are highly feminised industries. That's why this wage increase is so vitally important.
And of course, it builds on our really important investments in childcare, providing more fee relief to parents, and now, of course, increasing the wages for important childcare workers. So all of these increases in terms of childcare, of course, great for the children, great for families, really good for workers in this industry. And, of course, so important for our economy, because it means that a lot more women can be in the workforce. So I'm so proud that we've announced this last week. It'll make a huge difference for those incredible workers for the childcare industry.
We also know that Peter Dutton and the Liberals and Nationals want to slash $315 billion from government spending, and so many people are concerned as to where those cuts will come from. Will they be cutting aged care pensions? Will there be cuts in health, or will there be cuts in the really important area of women's safety?
Now the Albanese Labor Government has made a record investment in women's safety, more than $3.4 billion to provide the support and services that women and children need when fleeing domestic violence. So, we want to know where is Peter Dutton going to be cutting from?
These are really important areas right across the board, and we have made huge investments that are making such a difference in the lives of so many people. So, I'm calling on Peter Dutton and, on the Liberals and Nationals, to tell us where will your cuts come from?
Will they, you know, be cutting from important areas like women’s safety, will they be cutting age pensions, will they be making major cuts to health? The community deserves to know.