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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bunjelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It is Thursday,

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Speaker 2: the eighth of September.

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Speaker 3: I am Billy, I'm Zara.

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Speaker 2: Around one thousand childcare centers shut early yesterday with early

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Speaker 2: childhood educators protesting conditions.

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Speaker 1: In the sector.

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Speaker 2: We'll tell you everything you need to know in the

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Speaker 2: Deep Dive. But first, Sarah was making headlines this morning.

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Speaker 3: Well it is finally here. The government's Anti Corruption Commission

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Speaker 3: legislation will be introduced to Parliament next week. This was

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Speaker 3: a big deal. During the election, Labour promised a national

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Speaker 3: Anti Corruption Commission with powers to hold public hearings, investigate

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Speaker 3: pass allegations and act on tip offs.

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Speaker 2: Meanwhile, the Department of Health has announced that Australia will

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Speaker 2: stop reporting daily COVID nineteen numbers and deaths. This has

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Speaker 2: been agreed to by the federal, State and Territory health ministers.

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Speaker 2: It will start this Friday, meaning the first weekly COVID

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Speaker 2: nineteen update will be Friday, the sixteenth of September.

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Speaker 3: PM Anthony Alberzi has said he would welcome a one

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Speaker 3: on one meeting with Chinese President Jijinping amid growing tension

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Speaker 3: between Australia and China. Alberanizi said on Wednesday, it's a

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Speaker 3: good thing if there's dialogue, and certainly if such a

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Speaker 3: meeting took place, I would welcome it as I welcome

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Speaker 3: dialogue with leaders throughout the region and throughout the globe.

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Speaker 2: And today's good news, Queensland Premier Anastasia Palichet has handed

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Speaker 2: back three hundred and sixty two thousand hectares of land

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Speaker 2: on the Cape York Peninsula to its traditional owners. The

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Speaker 2: government says it has now handed back more than four

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Speaker 2: million hectares, an area the size of Switzerland. Early childhood

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Speaker 2: educators across the country participated in a shutdown yesterday over

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Speaker 2: pay and conditions. Zara, what do we know about what

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Speaker 2: the early childhood educators are calling for?

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Speaker 3: So the protest yesterday was directed at the federal government,

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Speaker 3: which regulates and partly funds the childcare sector. The United

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Speaker 3: Workers Union is calling for an urgent plan from the

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Speaker 3: government to quote fix the sector, including higher pay. Protests

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Speaker 3: took place across the country, including a parliament house in Canberra.

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Speaker 2: So can we go back a step. How are early

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Speaker 2: childhood educators paid at the moment?

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Speaker 3: Okay? So, award wages for early childhood workers are set

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Speaker 3: by the Fair Work Commission. Now awards are essentially just

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Speaker 3: legal documents that outline the minimum pay and conditions of

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Speaker 3: employment for an industry. So there are about one hundred

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Speaker 3: industry awards which cover most people in Australia. If we

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Speaker 3: go to the early childhood education industry, the minimum hourly

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Speaker 3: rate of pay is twenty one dollars and eighty five

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Speaker 3: cents and the typical hourly pay is around twenty eight

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Speaker 3: dollars an hour according to the latest government data. Now,

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Speaker 3: if we look at advertised salaries collected by a job

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Speaker 3: search company called Indeed, childcare work is also one of

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Speaker 3: the twenty lowest paying jobs in Australia. Ninety five percent

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Speaker 3: of early childhood educators are women and more than half

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Speaker 3: are under thirty five.

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Speaker 2: Now, I remember only a couple of weeks ago. Now

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Speaker 2: you spoke on the podcast about teacher shortages. Is that

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Speaker 2: something that the early childhood education sector is also struggling

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Speaker 2: with the shortages?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: So.

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Speaker 3: There are currently more than four thousand vacancies for early

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Speaker 3: childhood educators across Australia and that is the highest number

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Speaker 3: ever recorded. It seems this is set to continue. Out

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Speaker 3: of the thousands of workers who are bonded to a survey,

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Speaker 3: more than one third of respondents said that they didn't

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Speaker 3: plan to stay in the sector long term, and obviously

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Speaker 3: that will then lead to shortages. According to the survey,

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Speaker 3: ninety eight percent of early childhood educators say staffing shortages

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Speaker 3: are impacting the quality of care and education, and a

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Speaker 3: staggering ninety nine percent say they feel burnt out and undervalued.

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Speaker 3: And that is just I mean, it's a big number.

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Speaker 2: And so when we're talking about pay, what role does

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Speaker 2: the government play in deciding pay and who gets what?

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Speaker 3: Okay? So to answer that question, it's important to understand

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Speaker 3: where the funding for the childcare sector comes from. It's

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Speaker 3: a mix of private for profit providers, not for profit providers,

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Speaker 3: and a small number of government and school run centers.

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Speaker 3: But all that said, the federal government is a major funder.

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Speaker 3: It subsidizes childcare fees for parents based on a benchmark price.

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Speaker 3: Only twelve percent of providers charge more than this benchmark,

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Speaker 3: so the government's subsidy is a major factor in determining

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Speaker 3: how much money providers can pay their staff. In saying that,

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Speaker 3: Labor has promised to increase the childcare subsidy.

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Speaker 2: Right, so that's what they're doing for parents, as I

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Speaker 2: understand it. Have they said that they'll do anything for

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Speaker 2: the early childhood educators themselves?

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Speaker 3: Good question. I will answer that one after a quick

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Speaker 3: message from our sponsor. Okay, so, Billy, you asked about

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Speaker 3: what is actually being done for the educators. We spoke

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Speaker 3: before about subsidies, but now let's talk about what the

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Speaker 3: actual educators are getting from the federal government. We reached

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Speaker 3: out for a statement, and the Minister for Early Childhood Education,

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Speaker 3: doctor Ann aar Lee, said she's already met with early

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Speaker 3: childhood educators and cares from across the country. She said,

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Speaker 3: and I quote, We're increasing the number of university spots,

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Speaker 3: bringing forward fee free takee places, updating the Fair Work

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Speaker 3: Act to give more workers access to the benefits of

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Speaker 3: bargaining and taking action to close the gender pay gap.

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Speaker 2: Right, So that's what the government has said that they

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Speaker 2: are doing, but we're talking about it today because there's

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Speaker 2: been in austrial action. So what is the union saying

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Speaker 2: about what the government is doing or what the government

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Speaker 2: isn't doing.

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Speaker 3: So the United Workers' Union, which is coordinating the shutdown,

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Speaker 3: is calling for the government to go further in reforming

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Speaker 3: the sector. They're not happy with what has been done

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Speaker 3: so far. Helen Gibbons, who is the union's Early education director,

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Speaker 3: identifies three key priorities. She says, and again this is

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Speaker 3: a quote, give us a reason to stay and pay

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Speaker 3: us what we are worth, value early learning as part

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Speaker 3: of the education system just as important as schools, and

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Speaker 3: put children before profit.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So what has the opposition said on all of this.

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Speaker 3: Well, the coalition's Shadow Minister for Early childhood Education, Angie Bell,

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Speaker 3: said yesterday the government was doing a lot of talking

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Speaker 3: and not much listening, with centers closing their books, their

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Speaker 3: doors and asking families to keep children at home. Many

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Speaker 3: in the sector are concerned. She calls on the government

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Speaker 3: to introduce legislation on its childcare policies into Parliament.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on the Daily Oz. If

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Speaker 2: you have learned anything from today's episode, don't forget to

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Speaker 2: hit subscribe so there's a TDA episode waiting for you

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Speaker 2: every weekday morning at six am. We'll be back again tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: but until then, have a great day.