Thursday, 7 March 2024

Bills

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Early Childhood Employment Powers) Bill 2024

Committee

Resumed.

Clause 1 further considered (14:02)

Melina BATH: I only have a couple more questions from my angle. This relates to clause 11. If you do not mind, Minister, I will just ask them on this one – it is not too in-depth, I think. The bill provides for the secretary to restrict part-time employees from other paid employment that may conflict with their duties. What sorts of duties might be considered a conflict in this clause?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: Yes, I think this is the issue we were discussing just before question time. It is proposed to restrict government early learning centre (ELC) workforce employees from performing other work, such as providing private services to clients or to the families of clients, due to the potential perception of favourable treatment of some government ELC clients and to reduce any risk to child safety. Full-time employees in the government ELC workforce will also require the express permission of the secretary to engage in any paid employment – which was the issue we were discussing before question time – or engage in conducting a business, profession or trade. Part-time employees may not engage in paid employment outside the department or government ELCs that conflicts with the proper performance of the employees’ duties. This is consistent with the government teaching service, and it is really around ensuring that people are fit for work when they turn up to work. In the example in relation to the question that Mrs Hermans asked, we were talking about someone doing not necessarily a type of work as opposed to potentially hours of work – for example, where someone might work all night and then be expected to look after small children the next day.

Melina BATH: Schoolteachers are employed under the Victorian government schools enterprise bargaining agreement. Is the government looking at a new brand of EBA for the government ELC workforce? How do you envisage the rates of pay in relation to the current Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement or the Children’s Services Award? What sort of structure and rates of pay were you thinking on, Minister?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: The government ELCs will offer public sector jobs with wages and conditions that are commensurate with enterprise agreements covering similar early childhood services in Victoria. We recognise the importance of our early childhood workforce. Teachers are obviously central to the education of our littlest people and in the delivery of high-quality learning and care. The detailed employment framework will be finalised in 2024, assuming the passage of this bill, in time for the recruitment of staff in the centres that are opening next year. Certainly government expects there will be interest from unions to commence bargaining on an enterprise agreement once members of the workforce are employed in the first four of the ELCs in 2025. Obviously the purpose of this bill is to go to the operations around employing staff, so these are issues that following the passage of this bill will be worked through. But effectively they will be public sector jobs, and we do expect that relevant unions would be interested in establishing enterprise agreements once the new centres are open.

Melina BATH: One final question from me: how will ancillary staff, such as cooks and cleaners, be covered – will they be part of an EBA, or will they be covered by the relevant award already?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: Employment in the government ELC workforce obviously will be subject to the relevant awards and terms and conditions of comparable workforces. Under the bill the minister would have the capacity to declare employment arrangements through the ministerial order. This goes to the terms and conditions of employment, including salaries, wages, allowances, as well as the categories of staff – so the different types of staff that are required, as we talked about earlier, going from the director of the centre through to educators, teachers, support workers, cooks et cetera. It is intended that there would be employment arrangements made for all of those employees to be public sector employees.

Richard WELCH: Minister, with the co-location, this will obviously take up real estate within the boundaries of the school. Do we have an understanding across the properties that are being proposed about what sort of attrition of open play areas might be a consequence of it? My concern is really simply that we find that as schools’ capacities get pressed, their actual available play space contracts. I am not talking about the rectangles between buildings; I mean the genuine green, open play areas. Do we know what the impact will be on those?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: As we were talking about earlier, each of these – and I should say at the outset this bill does not really go to your question, but in the interests of being helpful we were talking earlier about the size of these centres, and they are obviously different. They range in number of places, and they are obviously on sites of different sizes, so that would be variable. But that said, the regulation around the types of services and the way in which services can be provided includes regulation in relation to indoor and outdoor spaces. It is intended that in each of these occasions we would obviously meet the necessary regulations without, I guess, impinging on the schools, where they are co-located with schools – with the schools being also able to meet those necessary regulations.

Richard WELCH: Just to reiterate, the early age group will need its own play areas as well. We see a death by a thousand cuts to open fields, where a lot of schools do not have the grounds for an Australian Rules football ground, which I think is a real tragedy. So I would express concern that we consider that or have mitigations for that.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: As I said, the issue does not directly pertain to the bill, but I take the feedback, and I am happy to keep you updated.

Clause agreed to; clauses 2 to 19 agreed to.

Reported to house without amendment.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (14:10): I move:

That the report be now adopted.

Motion agreed to.

Report adopted.

Third reading

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (14:11): I move:

That the bill be now read a third time.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Pursuant to standing order 14.28, the bill will be returned to the Assembly with a message informing them that the Council have agreed to the bill without amendment.