The Albanese government is in the final stages of signing off on a boost to childcare workers wages as a centrepiece of next month’s budget.
Guardian Australia understands the budget razor gang, the expenditure review committee, has considered a number of proposals on the sector-wide wage increase, which would see the government cover a significant pay rise for early childcare educators.
It is yet to sign off on the final proposal, but raising wages in the childcare sector has been identified as a priority as the government attempts to stem the flow of workers leaving the sector, including to work in aged care, where wages were recently increased.
The united workers union is using new multi-employer bargaining laws to seek a 25% pay rise through the Fair Work Commission, in line with the increase aged care workers received in what was considered a new benchmark for underpaid, mostly feminised industries.
The aged care decision saw workers receive a 15% increase upfront, with the total staggered over a number of years.
Childcare providers are not opposed to a pay increase, but want the government to fund it.
Education minister Jason Clare did not deny the budget proposal and said the bargaining process in the fair work commission was ongoing.
“There aren’t many jobs more important than what our early childhood educators and teachers do,” he said.
“We have changed the law to make it easier for childcare workers to get a pay rise.
“Unions and providers are using the laws we passed and we won’t pre-empt the outcome of any bargaining process.”
While the final childcare wage proposal is still being finalised, key consideration is being given to how to fund the wage increase without it being used to bolster centre profits, after much of the increased subsidy for parents was absorbed by higher fees.
The government’s plans for a boost to childcare workers is part of its push to have early childhood education considered a universal right for Australian children, which would see it treated in the same way as school or healthcare.
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One of the remaining issues the ERC is considering is the fate of the activity test, which sets out how much subsidy a parent or carer can receive based on how many hours they work.
The government is still considering whether it scraps the test as part of its childcare budget package with a delayed implementation date.
Advocates, such as the chief executive of The Parenthood, Georgie Dent, said the activity test remained one of the biggest barriers to universality.
“In a universal system, a child’s entitlement to attend quality early childhood education and care should sit with the child, not the parent’s postcode, income or employment activity.
“In that regard, the activity test is counter to a universal system which is why we have been urging the government to remove this test. Everyone from the Productivity Commission to the ACCC to the women’s economic equality taskforce in successive reports have highlighted the flaws of this policy.”