The federal government has announced it will spend another 3.6 billion dollars to prevent early childhood educators from facing a pay cut, after the sector had threatened to strike. The decision is aimed at heading off widespread industrial action that had been building across early childhood education.
The move is expected to deliver about 60,000 early childhood educators an extra 400 dollars a week. For a workforce that has long been among the lower paid in the country, the additional funding is intended to lock in higher wages and keep staff in the sector.
The Education Minister, Jason Clare, conceded that Labor had little choice other than to put up the money. He framed the spending as the government following through on a commitment it had already made rather than a fresh decision taken lightly.
That commitment dates back to before the last election. It was a pre-election pledge from the Prime Minister that a Labor government would support a 15 percent pay rise for early childhood workers, and the government had provided a subsidy to childcare centres to allow them to deliver that pay rise to their staff.
The timing had become pressing because of two looming deadlines. The subsidy to centres was due to end in December, while at the same time a cap on how much those centres can charge families was due to expire in August, raising the prospect of a gap that could hit both workers and parents.
With the subsidy running out and the fee cap set to lapse, advocates had called on the government to step in. The fresh 3.6 billion dollar commitment is designed to bridge that gap, supporting the pay rise for educators while seeking to shield the more than one million families who rely on childcare from a sudden jump in costs.