One of my favourite parts of the working day is picking up my three-year-old son, Gilbert, from childcare. He is so eager to tell me about who he played with, what he ate (or didn’t), which books he read and the letters and numbers he learned.
I am so grateful to the educators who make all this happen for him. They are trusted partners in my son’s development, helping him navigate the politics of the playground and instilling a love of learning.
So when I saw comments from a Liberal senator describing this environment as “institutional childcare” and brainwashing that destroys the family unit, I was deeply offended. I was offended as a parent, but also on behalf of the many women who work as early childhood educators and for the families who rely on the excellent service and education they provide.
It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see that Senator Gerard Rennick believes that a woman’s place is in the home. These are dinosaurs’ views that ignore the reality of modern family lives.
This Senator was personally backed by the leader of the Liberal National Party, Peter Dutton, who supported him to keep his job.
That Peter Dutton has not denounced Senator Rennick’s comments speaks volumes about where women fit in the values of the LNP, and the Liberal’s understanding of women’s lives.
Women are underrepresented in the Liberal Party – and little wonder. This is a party where a female candidate was refused endorsement for an elected position after it was suggested she lose some weight or, better still, step aside and make way for a man. And no, this was not last century – it was just this month.
The Albanese Labor government backs women. Our government is the first majority-female government in Australian history, and I am so proud to be a part of it.
Our government not only recognises that there is a gender pay gap, we are working to close it. We backed a 15 per cent pay rise in childcare and also in aged care, both dominated by women workers. We are boosting paid parental leave to six months and paying super on it so that women no longer retire with less super because they took time out to care for their babies. Our tax cuts, which came into effect in July, mean that 90 per cent of women are better off than they would have been under what the Liberal-Nationals were planning.
And, while it was Labor’s reforms that introduced publishing companies’ gender pay gaps to hold them to account, another Liberal Senator, Matt Canavan, says he doesn’t believe the gender pay gap is real.
Well it is real and, since Labor came to government, we have seen it fall, with new data showing the gender pay gap at a record low of 11.5 per cent.
Senator Rennick said that childcare brainwashes children with “the woke mind virus”. If this includes women being paid fairly for the critical work they do, then this is the one virus I am happy for my son to catch at childcare (but please no more coughs and colds!).
Which brings me back to the best part of my day. I get to see first-hand how hard the early childhood educators who support my son work to support Australian children: the skills, the training and the dedication they bring to setting up our next generation for the best possible future.
I am proud to be part of a government that recognises and values the work they do – and the role of women in shaping the future of Australia.
Published on Women’s Agenda on Friday 16 August 2024.