Tuesday marked the third time I’ve attended the Federal Budget Lock Up in Parliament House on behalf of The Parenthood. We are invited to attend the stakeholder Lock Up - separate from the media Lock Up - which means we are in a room with individuals representing all manner of peak bodies, memberships, unions and advocacy organisations.
We are ushered into a large room on the first floor of Parliament House from 4pm. We line up according to our surnames, we hand over our phones and smart watches, we find a seat, we disable wifi from our laptops and at this point it feels like we’re all about to sit an exam. (Except with snacks because the seasoned pros always remember snacks.)
Just before 4.30pm we are read the official rules by our exam moderators (aka treasury officials). We’re literally ‘locked in’ until the moment the Treasurer stands on the floor of Parliament and begins to deliver the Budget Speech at 7.30pm. No material can be shared with anyone outside the room until that point.
On the dot of 4.30pm we receive the budget papers. We can choose between hard copies or a USB to access the documents digitally. Quiet descends and reading begins.
Going into Lock Up no one (other than the folks who actually decide and compile the Budget) knows absolutely everything that will be in the thick blue books. There are plenty of knowns courtesy of pre-Budget announcements and there are plenty of rumours and theories and hopes swirling about what might be included.
It’s these unknowns that we hunt for when once we get our eyes and mitts on the actual documents. While there are many areas of overlap, every organisation represented in the stakeholder room has its own set of policy priorities and asks.
Everyone in the room will read the Budget papers with a different lens. So through The Parenthood's lens how did Budget 2024 go? It’s delivering progress on the issues we champion.
The Parenthood has three Big Policy priorities on its wishlist and they’re unashamedly ambitious. We believe Australia can – and should – be the best place in the world to be a parent and raise a child and as a result the bar we have set for reform is high.
💥 One year of paid parental leave, at a replacement wage rate with super, that is shared between parents where there are two parents, or taken in its entirety by single parents.
💥 Universal access to quality inclusive early childhood education and care that is delivered by a professionally qualified and paid workforce. (Universal = like school. Every child in Australia is entitled to a free position at their local school regardless of their postcode or their parents’ employment status or wealth. Early education should be the same.)
💥 Family friendly workplace practices that value caring and parenting among men and women.
These Big Policy asks are structural and evidence-based: they certainly don’t solve all of the challenges that make it hard for children, parents and families to thrive. But, they are game changers.
Taken together, they would present children, parents, families and communities with a different paradigm in the critical early years. A paradigm where it doesn’t feel quite so impossible to be there for your children in the way they need, to access the support and services they need, and to also be able to provide for them.
Our wishlist represents transformative change in the early years that would dramatically improve outcomes for children, parents, communities and the economy.
So let’s just do it already, right? WE WISH. (And trust me when I say we are giving that option a red hot nudge.)
Annoyingly, though, big reform rarely happens all at once. Incremental change is an inevitable and critical component of progress.
Take Paid Parental Leave. In the October 2022 Budget PPL was expanded from 20 weeks to 26 weeks by 2026. Then, in March this year the Federal government announced that from 1 July 2025 superannuation would be included with Paid Parental Leave. This change, which was included in this Budget, will cost $1.1billion. We’re not getting everything we want all at once, but we are progressing. Ticking the superannuation component of our Paid Parental Leave policy vision off the list is a win.
Before each Budget, while we always table our Big Policy Asks, we also break our wish-list down into more realistic bite-sized bits of change.
Ahead of this Budget The Parenthood had two immediate asks:
-
Fund a substantial wage rise for early childhood educators and teachers; and
-
Scrap the Activity Test which blocks the children of about 40,000 parents from accessing early childhood education and care.
These two changes will help move us closer to our Big Ask for universal early childhood education and care.
We missed out on our second ask this year which is disappointing, but the first ask got up and its scale cannot be understated.
On Sunday the Treasurer confirmed that the Budget would include a provision for funding a wage increase for early childhood educators. The amount, timing and mechanism is expected to be announced in the coming months but this commitment is HUGE.
The Federal government has never committed to fund a wage increase for this chronically underpaid and undervalued workforce, who happen to do some of the most skilled, demanding and valuable work in the country.
By supporting the development and education of children in the formative early years of life, early childhood educators have the capacity to positively impact the trajectory of a child’s life. In so doing, they have the capacity to positive change the trajectory of our country and future. (GIVE THEM A MASSIVE PAY RISE ALREADY)
But their wages – some earn as little as $23 an hour – do not reflect their skills or the importance of this work and profession. Low wages in highly-feminised workforces in the care economy reflect the historic undervaluing of work typically undertaken by women.
Acknowledging this and changing it through structural reform is HUGE. It isn’t a one-off sugar hit; it changes the paradigm. This wage increase has been decades in the making and is a victory for every single early childhood educator - past, present and aspiring.
There is plenty of work to do. There are many lenses through which the 2024 Budget can be viewed. In our realm this Budget represents a few key structural wins.
