Thousands of early childhood educators and workers are set to receive a pay boost, putting Australia one step closer to universal child care.
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The changes passed the House of Representatives on Monday are now bound for the Senate.
The bill is expected to give 200,000 childcare workers a 15 per cent wage increase over two years, which means early educators on the award rate will take home an extra $155 every week by the end of 2025.
To ensure costs are not passed onto parents, the federal government will cover the price of the pay bump for childcare providers that agree to limit fee increases.
Reflecting on this own experience, Education Minister Jason Clare said childcare workers change lives.
"Everything that a child experiences when they're little - every meal, every smile, every book that gets read to them - shapes the child that they become," he told the House of Representatives on Monday.
"(This bill) will benefit some of the most important and some of the most underpaid workers in our country - workers who have one of the most important tasks to educate and to care for our youngest Australians."
The laws are part of the federal government's efforts to tackle workforce shortages in the early childhood education sector and have been broadly welcomed.
About 21,000 more qualified professionals are required to address the current shortfall, and another 18,000 are needed to meet future demand, according to Jobs and Skills Australia.
Nationals MP Darren Chester applauded efforts to attract and retain workers but said Labor had to do more to address "childcare deserts" in rural and regional Australia.
"Our early childhood teachers and educators work extremely hard and we won't be standing in the way of a wage rise for those people, but we still have some concerns about this bill" he said.
"Whether or not you pay a childcare educator more doesn't really matter if there's no centre for the children attend to in the first place."
More should also be done to allow families to care for their children in their own homes, if they choose, he said.
The Greens added the bill falls short of what is needed and urged the government to do more, like increase wages by 25 per cent.
"Our childcare system is in crisis, and it cannot be fixed with bandaid solutions," Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown said.
Australian Associated Press
