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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm christinaming it.

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Speaker 1: It's Friday, December twenty. Members of Victoria's Liberal Party will

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Speaker 1: decide today if ousted MP Moi Redeeming should be readmitted

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Speaker 1: after she successfully sued party leader John Pursuto for defamation.

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Speaker 1: It comes after a federal court judge ruled he's liable

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Speaker 1: for Moi Redeeming's hefty legal costs. A ninth person has

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Speaker 1: accused Olympic pole vault coach Alex Parnov of grooming and

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Speaker 1: sexually assaulting her as a teenager. Tara Neville says she

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Speaker 1: later took on a role as Parnov's assistant coach, hoping

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Speaker 1: she could protect the other young female athletes in his squad.

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Speaker 1: Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says the coalition's nuclear ambitions

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Speaker 1: will cripple Australia's solar grid and force big industries out

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Speaker 1: of the country. You can read those exclusive stories right

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Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. The government

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Speaker 1: is plotting a revolution in early childhood education, and our

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Speaker 1: education editor thinks the PM has more up his sleeve

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Speaker 1: for families struggling under a cost of Living Crisis. That's

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Speaker 1: today's episode. If you're a little kid in Australia, this

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Speaker 1: is one of the most exciting times of the year.

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Speaker 1: The days are long and warm, perfect for playing outside

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Speaker 1: before dinner. The anticipation of summer holidays and Santa's arrival

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Speaker 1: is electric, and the new year brings the promise and

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Speaker 1: excitement of a new grade or even the jump to

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Speaker 1: big school. All across the country, parents are packing up

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Speaker 1: gifts and trinkets for the teachers and early childhood educators

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Speaker 1: who've shepherded their kids through another big year. Some are

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Speaker 1: topped with lovingly crafted cards made by the kids themselves.

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Speaker 2: It is just one of the most heart warming jobs

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Speaker 2: you can do.

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Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is the Australian's Education editor.

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Speaker 3: And the children react so beautifully.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of early childhood educators are having

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Speaker 2: a very heartwarming time getting all their cards and notes

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Speaker 2: from little kids at this time of the year. But

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Speaker 2: it's something where we need to encourage more people to

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Speaker 2: go into it and see it as a really valued

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Speaker 2: career because it's not babysitting at all.

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Speaker 1: Earlier this year, the government announced early childhood educators would

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Speaker 1: be getting a pay rise they're the people who look

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Speaker 1: after kids in daycare centers before they reach school age,

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Speaker 1: and they're one of the lowest paid workforces in the country.

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Speaker 1: The Prime Minister and his ministers were armed with three

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Speaker 1: point six billion to fund a bumper pay rise, so.

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Speaker 2: That will give them about one hundred and fifty dollars

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Speaker 2: a week extra income. That is important because the problem

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Speaker 2: the sector has had is it's been competing against the

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Speaker 2: fast food sector or the retail sector. And even though

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Speaker 2: early childhood education is such an important and can be

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Speaker 2: a very rewarding job, it is also an exhausting job.

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Speaker 3: You cannot switch off.

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Speaker 2: You can't wander off and have a cup of tea

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Speaker 2: and turn your back because the moment you do, something

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Speaker 2: might go wrong. That is the problem is that early

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Speaker 2: childhood education is only good for children if it is

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Speaker 2: of high quality.

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Speaker 3: Now high quality doesn't.

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Speaker 2: Mean oh, look at the beautiful facilities and the fun

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Speaker 2: playground and they do yoga classes.

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Speaker 3: That is not quality early childhood education.

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Speaker 2: The quality comes down to the caliber of the people

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Speaker 2: who are caring for children. You've got to be switched

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Speaker 2: on the whole time, so that we really do need

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Speaker 2: to get more people into this sector. And too many

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Speaker 2: of them are leaving because there is this so burnt

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Speaker 2: out and exhausted that don't feel appreciated.

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Speaker 3: And they can't afford it with the cost of living.

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Speaker 2: It's a vicious cycle where they just can't afford to

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Speaker 2: be looking after other people's children when they can't afford

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Speaker 2: to pay their own rent.

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Speaker 1: Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi unveiled the next phase

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Speaker 1: of Labour's vision for early childhood education at a rally

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Speaker 1: style event in Brisbane.

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Speaker 4: Making child care more affordable is good for families, that's

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Speaker 4: good for the economy. For all of us know there's

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Speaker 4: more to it. There are more than one million reasons

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Speaker 4: to invest in early education, some of whom are here

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Speaker 4: with us here today, one of them riding a dinosaur

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Speaker 4: down there. Because early education makes the biggest difference for

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Speaker 4: at littlest Australians.

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Speaker 1: The government will scrap an activity test that requires parents

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Speaker 1: and careers to work or study if they they want

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Speaker 1: to access childcare benefits. It'll also give families earning a

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Speaker 1: combined annual income of less than five hundred and thirty

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars access to three days per week of government

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Speaker 1: subsidized childcare if it wins the next election, and then

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Speaker 1: there are the plans to build one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: childcare centers around the country.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's transformational because for the first time,

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Speaker 2: it puts the children at the center of policymaking. Childcare

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Speaker 2: is no longer a convenience for working parents. It is

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Speaker 2: a service for children and that's quite different to the

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Speaker 2: way it's been treated for the past few decades. And

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Speaker 2: I think it will be very beneficial to children.

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Speaker 1: Experts agree that the first five years of a child's

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Speaker 1: life are vitally important to their mental, physical and emotional development.

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Speaker 1: And while early childhood education isn't just about giving kids

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Speaker 1: the jump on their ABC's education, Minister Jason says it

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Speaker 1: puts little kids in the best possible stead for the future.

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Speaker 5: Really, it's about making sure that every child in Australia

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Speaker 5: gets the best possible start in life. We know that

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Speaker 5: if child goes to early education, then they're more likely

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Speaker 5: to start school ready to learn. We also know that

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Speaker 5: they're more likely to end up finishing high school. So

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Speaker 5: this is about making sure that we build a better

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Speaker 5: and a fair early education system.

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Speaker 2: Look, I've heard from teachers saying that they get children

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Speaker 2: arriving at school at the age of four or five

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Speaker 2: who are still not toilet trained, let alone.

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Speaker 3: Some children have never seen a book. They don't even

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Speaker 3: know which way to hold it. They'll hold it upside down.

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Speaker 2: So there are always children who come from homes where

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Speaker 2: they don't have educated parents, or they don't have books.

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Speaker 2: There might be very grinding poverty, there might be drug

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Speaker 2: or alcohol abuse. For whatever reason, they are behind. So

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Speaker 2: the evidence is there that they're all starting school at

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Speaker 2: different levels. And children who've attend preschool in particular old KINDI,

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Speaker 2: depending which state of charactery you around the year before school,

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Speaker 2: have a great advantage over kids who have never learned

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Speaker 2: to cooperate or to sit still in class, to listen,

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Speaker 2: to take their turn. That's where you get a lot

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Speaker 2: of behavioral problems as well.

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Speaker 1: Coming up why Labour's early learning overhaul has been a

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Speaker 1: long time coming. In the run up to the two

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Speaker 1: thousand and seven federal election, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

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Speaker 1: pledged to build two hundred and sixty childcare centers across Australia.

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Speaker 1: It would, he said, and the nightmareish double drop off

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Speaker 1: for parents, referring to the daily game of tetris some

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Speaker 1: parents play when ferrying kids of different ages to school

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Speaker 1: and daycare, which can be kilometers or even suburbs apart.

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Speaker 6: What do we mean by an education revolution? A half

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Speaker 6: billion dollar investment in early childhood education to enable all

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Speaker 6: four year olds across this country for fifteen hours a

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Speaker 6: week for forty weeks a year to be exposed to

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Speaker 6: preliteracy and pre numerous education before they hit the school system.

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Speaker 6: A great Labour initiative.

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Speaker 1: But by the middle of Rudd's term as PM the

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Speaker 1: plan had been unceremoniously dumped. Now the rud Era Infrastructure

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Speaker 1: Plan has been partially revived by Labor as part of

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Speaker 1: its multi billion dollar early childhood education overhaul.

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Speaker 2: This is the.

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Speaker 4: Single biggest investment by an Australian government ever in new

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Speaker 4: child care services, starting with building or expanding over one

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Speaker 4: hundred and sixty early education and care centers where they

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Speaker 4: need most.

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Speaker 1: So is it the right move? Here's Natasha Beta look.

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Speaker 2: I think the only option is to start building centers

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Speaker 2: in areas where the private sector doesn't see it as

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Speaker 2: profitable or the not for profit sector can't afford it.

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Speaker 2: Seventeen years ago, it was promised if they had done it,

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Speaker 2: then we wouldn't be having to do it now. It

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Speaker 2: seems very expensive a billion dollars, so I worked out

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Speaker 2: that six point two million dollars per center. To me,

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Speaker 2: the most sensible thing would be for state and territory

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Speaker 2: governments to build childcare centers on school grounds, and I

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Speaker 2: know that some states they are already integrating them when

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Speaker 2: they build a new school. A lot of private schools

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Speaker 2: are doing this because it's very profitable for them, because

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Speaker 2: parents think it's great one drop off. So it's a

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Speaker 2: pity it was never done all that time ago. Probably

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Speaker 2: would have been a lot cheaper than trying to do

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Speaker 2: it now. But we can't have these childcare deserts where

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Speaker 2: children in certain areas just don't even have a choice,

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Speaker 2: or the waiting lists for so long that they can

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Speaker 2: never attend.

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Speaker 1: Natasha says. The Albanese government solution isn't perfect, but it's

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Speaker 1: been a long time coming and if they play it right,

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Speaker 1: it could make a world of difference for the party

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Speaker 1: in the run up to the next election.

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Speaker 2: Childcare policy is a complete mess in this country because

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Speaker 2: it's driven by a private sector and they all want

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Speaker 2: to build in particular areas where they think they can

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Speaker 2: charge the most money. You end up with gluts in

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Speaker 2: certain areas and then other areas there's no childcare center provided.

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Speaker 3: So it's a pity.

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Speaker 2: It was never part of a government system in the

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Speaker 2: first place, and it's just had all these changes tacked

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Speaker 2: onto it as time goes by, so it's an incredibly

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Speaker 2: confusing system for parents. I predict that the government will

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Speaker 2: be making more announcements during the election campaign proper because

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Speaker 2: the Productivity Commission had recommended that every child get free

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Speaker 2: childcare if they're parents of the family earns less than

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Speaker 2: eighty thousand dollars a year. I was surprised that the

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister did not announce this, but I'd say they're

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Speaker 2: keeping that up their sleeve because, as I said, if

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Speaker 2: you're trying to target the benefits of early childhood education

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Speaker 2: to very vulnerable and disadvantaged families, you must make it free.

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Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor. You can read

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Speaker 1: all her reporting and analysis on the education sector right

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Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining us on the front this week. Our team is

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Speaker 1: Claire Harvey, Jasper Leik, Leatsamaglue, Tiffany Dimak, Josh Burton, Stephanie

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Speaker 1: Coombs and me Kristin Amiot