Every day in Tasmania, early educators help children learn, grow and get ready for school.
It’s one of the most important jobs imaginable and we are locking in fairer pay for their work
The Australian Government funded a 15 per cent pay rise for Early Education and Care Workers.
The Australian Government is now investing a further $3.6 billion over the next two years to lock in this historic cent pay rise for early childhood educators
This investment will be tied to a commitment from Child Care Centres to limit fee increases. We want to make sure workers can be fairly paid without the costs being passed on to families.
When combined with our support for minimum and award wage rises, this will mean $255 more per week for a typical full-time educator and $410 more per week for early childhood teachers, compared to December 2024 when the Government first implemented the pay rise.
This funding will continue to be tied to a commitment from services receiving the payment to limit fee increases for parents.
That’s helping to ease cost-of-living pressure while delivering better early learning for children.
This will help keep a lid on fees for local families in Tasmania.
This is a win for workers, a win for families and will help ease cost of living pressures.
This is part of the Australian Government’s work to make early education and care more affordable, more accessible and high quality.
So far, the payment has worked to bolster our early educator workforce and keep costs for families down.
Since we announced the pay rise, there are around 20,000 more ECEC workers across the country-an 8 per cent increase-and job vacancies have fallen 31 per cent.
Fees at centres receiving the payment have grown at around half the rate of centres that don’t.
This is about giving kids the best start in life, while keeping costs down for families
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister White:
“Early educators are helping shape the youngest generation in Tasmania. We need to make sure they are properly paid and that’s what the Labor Government is doing.
“We’re locking in the 15 per cent pay rise for early educators in Tasmania.
“Importantly, the Labor Government is also keeping costs down for Tasmanian families by limiting fee increases at childcare centres.
“We’re making sure workers are paid fairly, while helping ease cost of living pressures.
“When we invest in early education and when we invest in our early educators, we are investing in our children and Tasmania’s future.
“This is a win for workers, families and children in Tasmania.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:
“This is good news for workers and it’s good news for families.
“Caring for and teaching kids is some of the most important work in the country.
“Our early educators deserve every cent they get and this funding locks their pay rise in.
“The payment has worked to bring more people into the early education workforce and to keep costs down for families.
“Turns out if you pay people more, more people want to do the job.
“Over the last year, working with the states and territories, we’ve done a lot to strengthen safety in early education and care.
“We’re taking the next step, tying this funding to safety standards.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our kids.
“This will help to make sure safety and quality in early education is what parents expect and what our children deserve.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth Jess Walsh:
“For too long, our early childhood educators were underpaid, undervalued and overlooked.
“And as a result, they were walking out the door.
“With the Albanese Labor Government’s 15 per cent pay rise, we’re seeing that turn around.
“This helps create a long-term stable workforce, and that strengthens the whole sector.
“This announcement is the foundation of our reforms to improve quality in early education and care and to make it more affordable for families by properly valuing our early educators.”
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