19 OctELAA Welcomes Work and Care Inquiry Interim Report
ELAA has been actively advocating at a federal level for improved access to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), including for amendments to the activity test and for initiatives to support workforce attraction and retention including to lift wages.
The majority interim report, supported by Labor and the Greens, has eight recommendations, three of which relate strongly to early childhood education and care.
ELAA is pleased that the interim report recognises the strong need to invest in ECEC to enable parents and carers to balance work and care.
The committee recommends lifting wages across the care economy, which for the purposes of this report includes wages in early childhood education and care. The report considers ways in which this can occur, both through improving the bargaining system and making gender equity an object of the Fair Work Act. A more immediate recommendation is that the Government develop an analysis of care work classifications and structures.
Significantly, the committee also recommends that the Australian Government amend the relevant Social Policy and Family Assistance Laws to ensure that First Nations people are not required to meet the requirements of the activity test in order to receive subsidised child care.
The committee recommends that in the upcoming 2022-23 Budget, the Australian Government commits to long-term increases in funding to First Nations community-controlled Early Childhood Education and Care, with a particular focus on regional, remote and some urban areas.
ELAA welcomes the recommendations in the interim report, and will advocate for an extension of the activity test to ensure all children can access at least two days of education and care a week.
To read the full report click HERE
