I called my sabbatical parental leave without a baby. Unsurprisingly, it was nothing like parental leave with a baby. In Canada on school days, between the hours of 9am and 3pm, my time was my own. I had nowhere I needed to be and nothing that I needed to do. That freedom felt every bit as luxurious as my younger-self on parental leave with a baby could have imagined.  

Routine liberation notwithstanding, there was one similarity between my experience of parental leave with a baby and without. I often found myself asking the same question: How do people all over the world do this? HOW? 

Learning the ropes with a newborn for the very first time is a singularly foreign experience that has never been better described than by Esther Walker when she said: “It’s like being asked to sit your A-Level exams. In Russian.”    

In Canada I had no newborns to tend to, and it wasn’t Russian I was trying to master, so why did I find myself flummoxed? Because raising children without a skerrick of a village is HARD. 

When we arrived in Toronto we really didn’t know anyone. We were properly on our own trying to find our feet and even with older children it was a gigantic undertaking. The ages of our daughters meant the travel itself – planes, trains, airports – was (save for the inevitable sibling warfare) civilised. 

There were no prams, nappy bags, naps or bottles to juggle. Our girls could carry their own bags, watch movies, read, cut up their own food and tolerate the travel without much hassle. 

But, taking older children out of their comfort zone and placing them into a whole new unfamiliar world presented challenges that younger children might not encounter. They felt the absence of family, their own friends, their regular activities and the familiarity of home keenly.

Being overseas, away from the comfort and anchor of home, very naturally increased the emotional support our girls needed, at the very same time our own options for support were dramatically reduced. We were without grandparents, siblings, friends, neighbours, our regular and beloved babysitters. We really were on our own. The cumulative pressure on the family unit brought an intensity to daily life in which the highs were higher, and the lows lower. It was alot. 

It reminded me – viscerally – that the adage about needing a village to raise a child isn’t hyperbole. It’s factual. 

Parenting is, easily, the hardest job in the world. The patience, resilience, optimism and strength it requires, daily, cannot be downplayed. 

I maintain that there is nothing as physically relentless as having babies and toddlers; the 0-to-5 window is peculiarly demanding in ways too many fail to readily acknowledge and appreciate. If you are a parent with children under 5, I see you and I promise life will not always feel like a marathon no one really knows you’re trying to complete every day. 

I promise you that fast forward five years you will find yourself inexplicably longing for the opportunity to go back in time for just one more day with those sweet, funny, wild bundles of need. This does not mean you should be soaking up every minute right now. You just can’t. It is a chapter of survival that is filled with affection and joy and boredom and exhaustion and love. Enjoying the moments you do enjoy, however fleeting, is enough. 

I am no longer in that chapter and as a family we are now able to explore and enjoy life in ways that were utterly unfathomable when our girls were younger. But parenting remains the hardest job in the world. 

I have done some hard things in my life but nothing challenges me in the way that parenting does. One reason, I believe, parenting can feel so difficult is that so much of the trickiest terrain is invisible. As children grow older their privacy really matters and their highs and lows aren’t ours, as parents, to share. 

This can create the false notion that raising children is more straightforward than it really is. That belies the conversations I have with parents every single week. Conversations in which the full extent of parenting – in all of its grit and glory – is clear.

From managing illness or a diagnosis, to tricky sibling dynamics, to social exclusion and loneliness, to intense dysregulation, to school refusal, disordered eating, anxiety, relationship breakdowns: the list of specific triggers is endless but the result is the same. Families struggling behind closed doors. 

Parents spending hours and hours of time trying to work out what support looks like for their child or family. Tears. Angst. Heartache. Desperation. From professional intervention, to quick fixes: whether the challenge is health, social, educational, behavioural – there are parents out there hunting down answers to problems many don’t know they’re facing. 

My stint on parental leave without a baby taught me once again that parenting is the biggest, most-consuming job in the whole wide world for which there is no formal training. 

It is why The Parenthood exists; not just to lobby for positive policy changes like better paid parental leave and access to quality early education, to ensure parents and carers and children are supported, but to ensure that the reality of parenting and caring is recognised and validated. By leaders, employers, government, decision-makers but also? By us! 

It is the biggest, toughest, most important job that we all need to acknowledge and validate as such. So, if you are a parent or a carer you have permission to recognise the work you do every day.    

The post What I learned on parental leave without a baby  appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Our third daughter was one of those mythical creatures I dared not speak of at the time lest I jinx it – she was a baby who fed and slept happily from the moment she arrived. I came home from four days in hospital after giving birth feeling rested. I kid you not. 

Having had two babies already we were free to accept our infant’s delicious temperament and proclivity for sleep in those early weeks for what it was: a stroke of luck that we knew could change at any time. Yes, we were comfortable and more confident parents but also? She was an insanely contented baby. Our older daughters were 3 and 5 and while life was chaotic our family cup runneth over.  

I didn’t work at all for the first seven months after she was born. I started back editing and writing for Women’s Agenda two mornings a week which I did from the comfort of home or a nearby cafe that became my office. 

Over that first year of life as a family of five there were hiccups. While our baby slept dreamily at home, any night spent away from home was invariably an all-nighter for the whole family. My husband was working hard to land a position on a competitive surgical training program and wasn’t eligible for any parental leave beyond the first two weeks. 

Towards the end of the first year, with the pregnancy hormones well and truly wearing off, I had a health flare up that led to chronic pain. 

But before those thorns grew, my period of parental leave, during which time my energy and focus and efforts skewed easily – and happily – towards parenting was a delight. 

Which is why I’m quite beside myself about what’s coming next. I’m calling it parental leave without a baby… an opportunity to just immerse myself in my family at a time that’s needed. At the end of June I’m stepping away as CEO of The Parenthood for six months and I am handing the reins to the remarkable Jessica Rudd. 

The context for the transition is this. My husband has been offered a fellowship in Canada for the second half of the year and it’s an opportunity we have decided to embrace as a family and relocate for six months. Initially I toyed with the idea of attempting to work remotely from North America while we’re away. I couldn’t be more delighted to say that, with the support of the board and our partners, sanity prevailed. 

With the momentum around early childhood education and care and paid parental leave The Parenthood cannot afford not to have a strong presence here on the ground. And Jessica Rudd couldn’t be more perfect for that role and responsibility. 

As The Parenthood’s Chair and Patron, Wendy McCarthy, says: 

“We are delighted to have appointed Jessica Rudd to continue to advance The Parenthood’s effective and impactful advocacy at this critical point in time. Jessica’s skills and professional experience in law, communications, media and business make her eminently qualified to lead and thrive in this role.” 

Being able to juggle work, family and life is no joke. Virtually every conversation Jess and I have had since this appointment was made has centred around the same theme: the insane game of tetris that is trying to align the full gamut of raising little people with the reality of work.

The policy changes we champion at The Parenthood are about making that game of tetris simpler. We don’t campaign for better access to quality early childhood education and care  or extended paid parental leave or family-friendly workplace practices because we want mums and dads tethered to work at all times. To the contrary. The suite of policy reforms we advocate are designed to give parents greater flexibility and opportunity to be there for their children and be able to financially provide for their family. 

I am incredibly grateful and excited that after three huge years leading The Parenthood, I am now able to take a breather and embrace my family. I’ve led an organisation that wants to normalise the reality of combining family life with work and it’s wonderful to have had the temporary change in my family life supported and accommodated. At The Parenthood we know it’s possible to do things differently: to be flexible and adaptable so that parents don’t have to make an either or choice about work and care. 

The flexibility and support I’ve been offered will enable me to enjoy a unique experience with my family: setting up a temporary life in a foreign country, with three children to settle into new schools, and explore a new city. It’s six months that our family will remember forever. The time will fly and with Jess at the helm so will The Parenthood.

The post Georgie Dent: I’m taking parental leave but without a baby appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The 173 words I wrote alongside that article sparked more than 2000 reactions, elicited more than 220 comments and has been shared more than 60 times.

This is what I wrote:

“There’s no doubt that school hours from 9am-3pm, with 12 weeks of school holidays, are almost impossible to mesh with paid work. How to make schools more family-friendly is an important conversation to have.

The reality is even in many two-parents households two incomes are necessary to just get by and provide for housing and feeding a family. In single-parent households, a parent being able to combine paid work with school hours isn’t a luxury add-on – it’s a necessity. But fitting that between 9-3 and school holidays is an impossible game of Tetris that no amount of time management can overcome.

Creating the necessary ecosystem for parents to reasonably combine caring for their children, with being able to financially provide for their family, means looking at how workplaces and schools – in addition to public policy settings – impact families.

It’s clear that teachers are – like early childhood educators – absolutely at capacity. No conversation about extending school hours can be premised on teachers doing more. But having properly funded before and after school care and activities is a conversation we need to have.”

The discussion this provoked was fascinating. Despite differences in perspectives, there was a remarkable level of consensus around a few points that are worth highlighting.

First, the extent to which the status quo for families isn’t working. Almost every commenter observed, in some way, that both children and parents are struggling with free time, space and connection. The role that workplaces can and must play in supporting families by enabling children to have access to free time and their parents was raised most often. Many parents in Australia would like to work fewer hours but the extent to which that is possible depends on many variables. A world in which the 4-day work week is the norm could be a total game changer for working parents, children, families and communities.

It is absolutely critical that workplaces embrace flexibility and truly accommodate the caring responsibilities of their workforce (not limited to parents). The role workplaces can and should play cannot be overstated.

But that doesn’t discount the need to have a conversation about how flexible and friendly schools are too. A few comments were premised on the idea that I was suggesting 9am-6pm as regular school hours for children would be the norm. Children attending school from 9am to 6pm five days a week is not even remotely ideal.

But, having two or three afternoons a week where children can be fed, well-cared for, supported on school grounds until after 5pm at minimal cost would take a lot of pressure off parents and the family unit. Some commenters observed we already have Outside School Hours Care – which is true for some. In reality it is not accessible to all families. Getting a spot is a patchwork lottery. Changing this so that families who do need OSHC can access and afford it is largely what the original article is about.

There is no one-size-fits-all in the jigsaw puzzle of work, care and home for families. But there’s no denying with the status quo – in schools & workplaces – many children, parents, families are up against it. And that costs children as much as it costs parents.

The needs of children and parents are, in many ways, inextricably linked. For parents to be able to nurture and support their children in the early years, they themselves need to be supported. The health and wellbeing of parents is deeply connected to the health and wellbeing of children, particularly in the formative early years.

Whether it’s enough paid parental leave to recover from childbirth, bond with a newborn, support siblings through the transition and enjoy the baby bubble, access to child & family health services, early education and care, access to a workplace that is accommodating – all of these “supports” for parents are actually critical supports for children too. The needs of children & parents are not mutually exclusive.

There’s absolutely no doubt that our systems & policies need to shift to give parents the ability to give their children what they need. That’s why we campaign at The Parenthood for the reforms we do.

Earning an income to financially provide for a family isn’t a luxury. In the vast majority of households it’s a necessity & it’s made much harder by policies, workplaces & schools still set up for an arrangement where one parent works full-time & one parent stays home full-time, which no longer prevails.

The tension between idealism and pragmatism is real. If we lived in a world in which the 4 day working week prevailed, where all employers were truly supportive of caregiving responsibilities, where all schools had quality, inclusive OSCH facilities and parents were able to readily give their children the quality family time they need while also being in a position to financially provide for the children – talking about family-friendly schools might not matter.

But we are a long way from that ideal – and we won’t get any closer to it without being flexible, adaptive, pragmatic and doing many things all at once.

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I am mortified to say that until fairly recently Maybanke Anderson was not a name I was familiar with. Upon learning her name and reading about her extraordinary life it became immediately apparent that I was not just learning about a woman of formidable historic significance but, in fact, a long-lost kindred spirit. A kindred spirit whose legacy and vision is – almost a century since her passing – closer to being realised than at any point in Australia’s history.

Maybanke Anderson was once a household name to several generations of Australians but today is almost unknown. Born in 1845 in England, she arrived in Sydney in January 1855 with her parents and brothers and was educated as a teacher.

She was a woman who made things happen – as a teacher, a writer, a leader, an advocate and feminist. In 1895, she established the first free kindergarten in Australia, pioneering the free kindergarten movement, helping children and their working mothers.

For more than 50 years, Maybanke actively promoted the rights of Sydney’s women and children and was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement. To Maybanke, the vote was ‘the kernel of all reform’.

“When I stand up all the wild horse spirit surges up in me and though I tremble I feel as if I were ready to fight like a lioness but we shall win more by being soft so I am going to try to be as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove,” Maybanke Anderson said.

She was president of the Women’s Literary Society from 1893 until 1897 as the organisation grew to be the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales. Maybanke founded the Australasian Home Reading Union in 1893 – an education program for people in rural Australia and the forerunner to the Workers Education Association, the organisation she also helped found.

Education, women’s advocacy and social reform were the causes Maybanke championed – causes that continue to be as important now as they were in 1893. Maybanke died in 1927, while travelling overseas. Her legacy remains alive due to her family and, specifically, the Maybanke Fund which honours her work.

The Fund supports the Maybanke Anderson Award for Indigenous students in Education, at Macquarie University. For the last nine years The Maybanke Fund hosts The Maybanke Lecture on or around May 6, commemorating the anniversary of Maybanke’s first public speech. The lectures continue to advocate the social change that Maybanke dedicated her life to achieving.

Which is how we get to the part about how I came to learn of this remarkable woman. The Maybanke Fund, a subfund of the Sydney Community Foundation, have invited me to deliver the 10th Annual Maybanke Lecture in her honour in Sydney on the 29th of May at 6pm.  

Seeking to do Maybanke’s legacy justice is no small task. It’s an incredible and daunting honour. It is, however, also fortuitous. In 2023 Australia is closer to realising a vision for universal early childhood education and care that aligns with Maybanke’s pioneering vision from a century ago. Maybanke knew that children having access to free quality early childhood education was critical to their development, wellbeing and education. She also knew that free quality early childhood education was critical for their mothers. For their own wellbeing, security and independence.

That remains the case today. For the last three years leading The Parenthood I have been on the frontline of a collective advocacy effort campaigning for bold reform of early childhood education and care. The dream we imagine is an Australia in which all young children – regardless of their postcode or their parents’ income – have access to free, or nearly free, quality early childhood education and care that is delivered by a workforce that is properly paid, supported and valued.

This dream, cause and campaign is not new. Those engaged in this work today stand on the shoulders of so many giants who have worked tirelessly to propel this cause, bit by bit, for over a century.

That cumulative and collective effort has Australia now perched on the precipice of transformational reform. We have a Prime Minister who has declared that universal quality early childhood education and care is the legacy he wants to leave. Prime Minister Albanase has – accurately – likened the scale of this change to Medicare. It would represent the most significant social and economic policy in more than a generation.

There is no greater nation-building, equity-creating, wellbeing-boosting reform. And it’s within reach. Right now there is a Productivity Commission inquiry underway not looking at “if” we can create a universal early childhood education and care system – but how.

It’s an inquiry being headed by the formidable Deb Brennan, a globally renowned expert in early childhood education and care, and has the full support of the Prime Minister, the Education Minister, the Social Services Minister and the Early Childhood Education Minister, to name a few. We have leaders in every single State and Territory committed to spending billions on meaningful reform in the early years. The consensus that early childhood education needs to be conceived and delivered as education is unprecedented.    

It’s not hyperbole to say as a nation we are closer to realising Maybanke’s vision than ever before. That’s not to underscore the scale and complexity of change needed to implement such a vision. To say it’s complicated is an understatement of epic proportions.

There are great chunks of the country without any early childhood education and care right now. Almost every week, there is another community that is closing an early learning service or reducing the numbers because they haven’t got enough staff. It’s far worse in rural and remote settings but it’s a major problem in large regional areas and in cities too.

The early childhood education and care workforce is under threat with educators and teachers leaving in record numbers due to the poor rates of pay, lack of recognition and burn out.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to early childhood education and care. When we say ‘universal’ we don’t mean uniform. We mean every community having access to quality, inclusive early childhood education and care that meets the needs of the children and families in that community.

There is no doubting the complexity and scale of designing and implementing truly universal early childhood education and care but it is not beyond us. We have plenty of evidence of what works really well. We have a world-leading quality framework. We have in the country right now thousands and thousands of Australians who are trained, skilled and experienced in early childhood education and care – they could – and should – be lured back with substantially better rates of pay, support and access to professional development that appropriately matches the value of their chosen career. Other countries have developed solutions.

If Maybanke Anderson was able to conceive and deliver free kindergarten for children in Sydney in 1895, I refuse to believe in the year 2023 with the backing of the Prime Minister and his cabinet, the Greens and the cross-bench, the states and territories, a unity ticket among business and union leaders, economists, child health experts, academics, the Productivity Commission, and more, that this can’t be done. May we all be as brave and bold in pursuit of this reform as Maybanke Anderson.

On the 29th of May I will attempt to do Maybanke Anderson’s legacy justice by delivering a lecture on what I’ve learned in the last three years campaigning for universal early childhood education and care and I would love for you to join me. Proceeds from the tickets go towards funding scholarships for Indigenous students in Education, at Macquarie University.

Tickets can be purchased here and if you’re not in Sydney you can view the livestream.

The post Maybanke Anderson: A kindred spirit who pioneered free early childhood education appeared first on Women's Agenda.

To paraphrase Elvis, I’d like a little less conversation and a hell of a lot more action. Which is why I’m writing. International Women’s Day is an opportunity to put the focus on women – and there is one group of women I’d really like us to think about on the 8th March 2023. And, even better than thinking of these women I’m asking you to SHOW UP for these women. 

These women are quite literally the reason hundreds and thousands of other women in Australia can ever SHOW UP. I’m talking about early childhood educators and teachers. 

Now, let me be clear: in an ideal world this wouldn’t be an equation that is all about women. In an ideal world, early childhood education wouldn’t be the most gender-segregated workforce in the country. In an ideal world, access to early childhood education and care would impact parents equally. 

But in the real world 96.6% of early educators are women and it remains the case that it’s the employment of mums that is disproportionately impacted when early learning isn’t available or affordable. 

So for now this really is about women supporting women. 

This International Women’s Day will you show up for early childhood educators? In less than two minutes you can click here and send a letter to your local member telling them that Early childhood educators need a pay rise! And they need it now.

Early educators are a critical cog in the wheel of our communities, as well as the education and development of children: them turning up to work is what enables so many essential workers like teachers and nurses and doctors and aged care workers and physios and retail workers – the list goes on and on – to turn up to work. The impact of their work – shaping the brains and supporting the development of children in the formative early years – is not just life changing, it’s nation building. 

And yet? 

This critical, invaluable cog is under threat. Early educators are leaving in droves. Right now at least 20% of early learning providers have a cap on enrolments because they cannot take any additional children. 

There are an estimated 20,000 early education jobs vacant right now. Every unfilled educator role impacts between 6-12 families. At the moment 16.4% of long daycare services are operating with a waiver because they don’t have as many staff as they need. 

Why is this happening?  

Because early educators – who are skilled and do one of the most valuable, demanding, important jobs in the country – are among the lowest paid workers in Australia.

The award commences with a rate of pay for a qualified certificate III educator of $23.39 per hour and a centre director, role often degree-qualified, starts at $35.17 per hour.  

The average median hourly rate in Australia is $41. 

The average weekly take home pay for a full time educator is $1,059 a week. An entry level bricklayer earns $1550 a week.  

It is the epitome of important valuable work being chronically undervalued and underpaid.  

Educators are leaving because they cannot afford to stay. With the cost of living escalating, this is only getting worse. In September last year on a national day of action early educators asked to be paid a living wage. 

That’s it! A living wage. A wage that means they can afford to cover the cost of living. It’s insulting that they have to ask. But they do.  

So let’s use International Women’s Day to show up for early educators and add our voices to their very reasonable demand to be paid fairly for the work they do.   

In just 2 minutes you can send a letter to your Federal member letting them know that how early childhood educators are paid is an issue you care about. 

The post 97% of early educators are women. 100% need a pay rise. appeared first on Women's Agenda.

I started the 2023 working year relaxed, grateful and ready to ease into another year of advocacy. A week in, I’m still relaxed but I am also somewhat exercised. There is just no hiding from the fact the reality for families trying to combine their caring responsibilities with their paid work is not just tricky. For many it’s close to impossible. 

I know – personally and professionally – that not being able to access or afford suitable early childhood education and care is a huge issue for families. Changing that is a driving force at the advocacy organisation I lead. But even still this week the extent of the challenge really hit me in the face.     

On Sunday, ahead of an interview with The Today Show, the host explained off-air that while she would love to be able to access an additional day of early learning for their youngest child, their local service cannot offer an extra day. They just cannot find staff. 

On Monday, a message popped up from one of The Parenthood supporters. A mother-of-two who lives in WA was told that in Broome there are currently 700 children on waiting lists for early education and care. Their daughters are number 24th and 80th at one service. They would happily accept even just one day a week. Both parents work in health but if they cannot access suitable care for their children they cannot work.   

On Wednesday The Courier-Mail published a report outlining the alarming exodus of educators from early childhood education and care in the state. 

‘… after the number of qualified early childhood teachers in the state rose steadily from 2018-2021, it dropped to 3412 in 2022 – below the 2020 figure of 3494.’

On Thursday the Financial Review published a report about sky-rocketing out of pocket fees for early childhood education that parents simply cannot afford. 

On the same day the ABC published a story about the closure of a travelling bush early learning service in remote Qld. For more than 15 years, it has offered one day a week of early learning and care to families in the remote towns of Aramac, Muttaburra, Isisford, and Ilfracombe.  

“The program run by the Longreach Regional Council was cut this month after a failed search for a second qualified childcare worker.”

In just a few days the key issues for children, educators and families in early education and care are front and centre. None of these stories are isolated. They apply far and wide. And the cost it poses to children, parents, educators and communities is too high. We cannot afford not to fix this problem. So what’s the solution? 

An early childhood system in which every child – regardless of postcode or their parents’ income – has access to totally affordable, inclusive quality early childhood education and care that is delivered by a properly paid workforce. Before my return to work I was determined that 2023 would be the year we get closer to that system: a few days in I’m more convinced than ever.  

The post No hiding from the problems with early childhood education and care appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The opening montage, which captures snippets of Julia Gillard’s now infamous riposte to Tony Abbott at the despatch box, weaved alongside news clippings and reports from the time, interspersed with reflections from a roll call of public figures ranging from Hillary Clinton to Kathy Lette, Anthony Albanese to Annie Lennox, was electric. I was quite unexpectedly overwhelmed with tears.

The explanation I have is simple. In just a few minutes the Not Now Not Ever montage proved time has not stood still. Despite the horror of sexism, misogyny, and harassment – then and now – things have changed. Not enough, and not fast enough, but things have changed. That, in itself, is proof that we must persist, even in the face of glacial progress. And it was enough for spontaneous weeping.

Julia Gillard stepping onto stage, resplendent in gold, to a rockstar welcome from the 5000+ strong crowd, was in itself a quantum leap from 2012. Back then, the Prime Minister was fighting to have her credibility – not her likeability – respected. She wasn’t seeking special treatment; she was seeking fair treatment.

That her misogyny speech, which immediately became a global viral hit, was initially derided as emotional and hysterical in the Australian media is telling. It is hard to fathom Julia Gillard circa 2012 receiving a standing ovation. Ten years on it’s not a stretch to describe her as an international superstar in the realm of efforts to achieve a gender-equal world. Not, it must be said, because Gillard used her prime ministership to accelerate these efforts, but because it’s become her singular focus since leaving domestic politics.

Not Now Not Ever is described as a celebration and a reflection. As a performance review marking Australia’s progress in grappling with sexism and misogyny, it’s clear, mercifully, that progress is underway. It’s hard to discount the role Julia Gillard has played.

The significance and impact of that speech is clear from the line-up of guests and speakers who Gillard assembled to mark the 10 year anniversary. Who else in Australia could command thoughtful, heartfelt and personal reflections from Hillary Clinton, Jacinda Ardern, Annie Lennox, Anthony Albanese, Nyadol Nyuon OAM, Professor Michelle Ryan, Georgie Stone OAM, Ashleigh Streeter-Jones and Shelley Ware? With exquisite performances by musical guest Kate Miller-Heidke and poet Joella Warkill to boot?

While Not Now Not Ever showcased Gillard’s speech and Gillard herself was interviewed by the host Indira Naidoo, the power of the evening lay in the voices of the phenomenal leaders who were invited to share the stage. Their courage was mesmerising. They spoke in deeply personal terms about the impact Julia Gillard’s speech had on them: on their lives, their careers, their activism, their families.

It’s difficult to imagine a more extraordinary collection of people on a single stage who, one by one, delivered magnificently unique, forceful monologues. 

To consider, for a moment, the group the misogyny speech’s protagonist, Tony Abbott, might assemble on a stage to mark a similar 10 year anniversary, is to consider a very different event. A very different legacy. It is to confront a chasm that sets Australia’s first female prime minister apart.   

Providing a space and a platform for women and gender diverse leaders to stand powerfully in their legitimate anger and speak their unvarnished truth about racism and bigotry as much as sexism, is in itself the defining legacy of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech.     

Her infamous riposte legitimised the well-founded anger of women and provided a blueprint for voicing it. It is still not a luxury afforded to all women which Gillard acknowledged explicitly in words and implicitly in deed. It is not safe or feasible for every woman to voice their anger and call out sexism or misogyny. It depends on the agency and power they have. The environment they’re in. The support – or not – around them.  

For those who do have the power or platform to call it out, Gillard issued a rallying call. To ‘swap stoic silence with a raucous roar’ and match it with a set of demands for change. To look for ways to give a platform and voice to others. To be ‘angry, analytical and empowered’ in seeking change. To tap into the collective determination and sense of solidarity that exists among those who will not accept sexism or misogyny or racism or bigotry. Not now and not ever.  

In 2012 some described Gillard as being embattled but that wasn’t how she felt that day. Empowered is how she felt. And, empowered is how thousands and thousands of Australians feel ten years on. Back in October of 2012 Julia Gillard cut something of a lonely figure on the floor of the house of representatives. The contrast in October of 2022 could not be more stark. You can now pay to watch the Not Now Not Ever stage show. If you need reminding of how far we’ve come and how much further we have to travel, I cannot recommend watching this show more. It is tear-jerking, the talent is inexplicable and the impact is galvanising.     

Feature Image Credit: Daniel Boud.

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Back in 2020, Anthony Albanese lay a foundation stone that created a credible path to the office of Prime Minister. It wasn’t accepted wisdom at the time, even within Labor. Certainly there was no sign the coalition registered a meaningful threat.

But the $5 billion+ commitment to early childhood education and care that the then-Opposition leader Albanese announced in his Budget Reply on 7th October 2020 was a turning point that helped render a federal Labor government inevitable. Compelling policy and politically astute, it was a landmark flag in the sand that met the moment. 

Women in Australia were reeling at the time. It was women who had borne the disproportionate burden of job and income losses when Covid first hit. They were overrepresented in the lower-paid, essential frontline roles like nursing, early education, schools, aged care, roles they fulfilled without a dot of protection from vaccination.

Women absorbed most of the surge in the demands of unpaid domestic work as lockdowns took effect: the additional cooking, cleaning, caring, supervising of remote learning. Financially, mentally, physically, emotionally and logistically the early months of pandemic ravaged women. Covid lay bare and exacerbated the fault lines of gender inequity in our communities.

With this backdrop, the Morrison government allocating $240million – out of more than $500 billion – to women’s economic security in the (then) biggest-spending Budget in history was indefensible. The condemnation was swift. From economists, business leaders, academics, doctors, lawyers, journalists, politicians and advocates across a range of sectors and organisations. The atmosphere online turned febrile and the Federal government dug in. “Women can take advantage of driving on the new infrastructure and roads,” was offered as a serious counter. 

The abject disregard for women the government’s Budget demonstrated with spectacular clarity piqued seeds of combustible rage, while the dogged dismissal of legitimate criticism provided the match. The fire that ensued was dangerous.

To the naked eye what could have been misconstrued as a small spotfire, a flash in the pan, lit embers that glowered. From October 2020, Scott Morrison was on notice when it came to women. Every incident from that point on that revealed him as a leader disinclined to contemplate, let alone accept, gender inequity proved flammable. By March 2021 the embers had taken flight and the Prime Minister was engulfed. For a man unwilling to hold a hose the flames were politically fatal.

But, Scott Morrison’s political self-immolation was dependent upon there being a viable alternative. At the very moment Morrison showed women just how little he cared about their safety and economic security, Anthony Albanese made women the priority in his Budget reply, not as a ‘footnote’ or worthy only of platitude. He spoke with sincerity, nuance and understanding about the economic reality women face, and he tabled a targeted, meaningful policy to address it. 

‘If I’m PM I’ll make quality, affordable high quality early education universal,’ the Opposition Leader said.

“We have to make sure women aren’t forced to choose between their family and their jobs. Working mothers should be able to afford child care for their kids. It’s as simple as that.”

‘This is not welfare. This is structural reform,’ he added.

Eighteen months later at the 2022 Federal Election, that $5 billion early childhood education and care policy was Labor’s biggest financial pledge. While in May 2021 the Coalition put more money on the table for early childhood education and care, they didn’t go close to Labor.

Despite the narrative ahead of the 21st of May that there was no discernible difference between the major parties, when it came to matters relating to safety, equity and respect for women, there was a chasm. Labor committed to implementing the full Respect at Work report, to introducing 10 days of paid domestic and family violence leave and to invest billions in making early education and care more affordable. 

The electoral results were compelling. Between Labor, the Greens and the successful Independent candidates – a significant majority of Australians endorsed commitments on meaningful action to address gender equity.

In May 2022 women weren’t just angry: they were analytical. They were unwilling to accept rhetoric or platitudes. A decision Anthony Albanese made in October 2020 to offer reform meant he could credibly argue that a government he led would not overlook the structural inequity women face.   

A week short of the second anniversary of that commitment the Education minister Jason Clare and Early Education and Care minister Dr Anne Aly introduced the Cheaper Childcare legislation in parliament.

It means that from 1 July 2023, over a million families in Australia will have access to much more affordable early childhood education and care. Grattan Institute estimates this will lead to 8% more hours being worked by second-earners with young children (aka mostly mums).

Put another way this is about 220,000 extra days worked in Australia every week, mostly by mothers who are currently working part-time – which is the equivalent of 44,000 extra full-time workers.

There is work to be done to ensure that the early education workforce is properly supported and able to absorb the additional demand. Wages for early educators must be addressed.

But the fact this legislation is on the table is significant. That it’s being championed by an Education Minister and Early Childhood Education Minister who both recognise the critical importance of quality early learning to the development and education of children is massive.

That it was developed with the now-Social Services minister, Amanda Rishworth, and was explicitly backed by the Prime Minister as a legacy-creating policy, is monumental.

There is reason for genuine hope that meaningful – long overdue – reform of early childhood education and care is within our grasp. Not just to make early learning more affordable, but to make it accessible to every child regardless of where they live or what their parents earn, and to ensure it is delivered by a properly paid and well-supported workforce. 

That’s a game-changing reform that will deliver for children, for families, for educators, for women and the nation.

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That women in Australia are the best educated in the world but rank #38th in the world for workforce participation illustrates the extent to which this barrier influences women. No credible conversation about growing the strength or sustainability of our economy can overlook access and affordability of quality early childhood education and care.

It is key to unlocking the full potential of the female workforce, growing productivity, improving human capital and to help reverse the educational decline that Danielle Wood, CEO of the Grattan Institute, referred to in her opening keynote address.

One in five children in Australia arrive at school developmentally vulnerable. In rural areas it’s two in five. Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children half arrive at school developmentally vulnerable. The evidence is clear that children who arrive at school behind rarely, if ever, catch up to their peers. Children who attend quality early learning in the early years are half as likely to arrive at school behind. They enjoy lifelong advantages – in their health, education and wellbeing – as a result.     

Right now investing early childhood education and care also presents a compelling and immediate solution to workforce shortages. The government’s Cheaper Childcare package that is due to take effect on the 1^st of July next year will result in 8 percent more hours being worked by secondary earners with young children – mostly mums.

By lowering the cost of care for these families we can free up the equivalent of 44,000 additional full-time workers. Immediately. This potential workforce is right here. They’re experienced, skilled and want to work more. Many of these cohort are already currently employed.

Of women in Australia aged between 25-40 with young children just 56% participate in paid work. Of these 61% work part time, one of the highest rates of part time work of any industrialised country.

High rates of part time work and lagging participation rates among women reflect that for too many families the cost of care is so high – or is so inaccessible – that two parents simply cannot afford to work. It is, almost invariably, mums who reduce or stop work as a result.

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recognised this “economic insanity” and has tabled a solution. That it’s a centrepiece of his government’s economic reform is profoundly significant.

But, and this is a big but, to realise the increased productivity and myriad benefits for children we need an Early Childhood Education and Care sector that can accommodate the extra days that families will need in order to work additional days and hours.

The estimated increase in demand for early learning as a result of the ‘Cheaper Childcare’ changes will require the equivalent of 9,650 additional full time educators by next year. But right now rather than expanding this critical workforce, like many other female dominated workforces, is contracting. At an alarming rate.

Turnover in early learning has always been high sitting around 20%, which is considerably higher than the 12% rate in education generally. In the past year turnover has accelerated sharply and some services have reported turnovers rates between 30-40%.

Last month there were at least 6600 staff vacancies in early learning services right around the country. This workforce contracting is a problem for every employer and organisation in the country. Because if a parent cannot access suitable, quality care, they cannot access work.

Without early educators there is no early education. Without accessible, affordable, suitable early childhood education there can be no increased productivity, no tapping into the great unrealised ‘iron ore’ deposit that is female workforce participation, no systemic erosion of inequity and no chance to give every child in Australia access to the life-changing educational benefits of quality early learning.

The most significant obstacle that stands between where Australia is on all of these measures, and where we could stand on all these measures, is a strong and sustainable early childhood education and care workforce.     

This is the moment we need to confront the reasons that early educators are leaving. We cannot ignore that in this sector, as with so many female-dominated workforces, skilled, valuable and demanding work is paid considerably less than less skilled, less valuable and less demanding work.

Women in female-dominated workforces earn between a quarter and one-third less than men with an equivalent qualification in male-dominated workforces. Consider this gap in earnings revealed on the Labour Market Insights compiled by the National Skills Commission. The average take home pay for an early educator in Australia is $1,059 per week. This compares with an entry level Building Labourer who, on average, takes home $1,550 per week.   

A survey of 4000 early educators less than a year ago showed that 73% of the workforce plan on leaving within three years. Pay is, undoubtedly, a big factor but so too are rising stress levels, not feeling valued or respected, and not enjoying secure employment. Feeling like they have to perpetually be doing more with less and burnout are real too.

That’s why this week, on Wednesday the 7th of September, early childhood educators and teachers around the country are going to shut down and take to the streets. They’ve had enough. 

Early educators are leaving because they feel like they cannot afford – financially or mentally – to stay. None of us can afford that. Not children. Not parents. Not employers. Not the government.

It is time to make the necessary investment in this critical piece of educational and economic infrastructure. Not just in making early education more affordable and more accessible for all children, but in ensuring we have a strong, sustainable and growing workforce. If there is concern about the cost attached to this investment, let’s remind ourselves that the cost of inaction is higher. We are already paying for a system that doesn’t work well enough.

The average Australian woman misses out on $693K in income & $180K in super over the course of her life due to inadequate parenting policies. That is the motherhood penalty in Australia and it’s individual mums who are footing that bill.  

We spend at least $15billion every year on late intervention for children and young people. That is money that can be avoided by investing in the early years.  

We know that for every dollar invested in early education programs we get at least $2 in return. That is an investment – not a cost. And there is not a person or organisation in Australia that won’t benefit from us making this investment now in an early education and care system that works. Let’s not let another Summit or discussion in 10 or 20 years from now, once again, reflect on what could have been achieved if Australia followed the evidence and pursued this investment now.

The evidence is incontrovertible. The moment is upon us. It will pay for itself time and time again. It will help solve, at once, a number of significant economic and social challenges we’re facing. The question is no longer if we should implement this bold reform but when. The most credible answer, is now.   

*This is the full speech I wanted to give at the Job Summit at Parliament House on Thursday 1st of September. But with just two minutes I had to deliver an abridged version.

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A Media Release, published on 10 May 2015 announcing the investment, reads: 

“The package will deliver significant reform, putting downward pressure on child care costs. This package reforms the inflationary system ….”

Fast forward seven years to Mother’s Day in 2022 and CPI figures show families are now paying 28% more for early childhood education and care than in 2015. Childcare was unaffordable back in 2015 which is why Morrison introduced the Jobs for Families package, and it’s now more expensive than ever before.

It’s not just more expensive for parents either – it’s costly for taxpayers too. In 2016-17 the federal government spent $7.2billion on the childcare subsidy while in 2021-2022 the spend will exceed $11billion, a jump of more than 34%. 

Under the childcare subsidy model fees have consistently grown at a faster rate than inflation. Over the same period wage growth has been almost non-existent at the same time that housing costs have soared and the general cost of living pressure is mounting. It means the financial pressure on families with young children is increasingly unsustainable. In real terms it’s far worse than it was in 2015.

We have known for a long time that the high out of pocket cost for childcare in Australia is a barrier for lots of parents, but particularly mums, to work.  In February this year there were 70,000 Australians not in employment because they couldn’t access childcare.

That means their children are potentially missing out on the benefits of early childhood education and care, at the same time they’re missing out on the security of receiving an income. We know that long-term it’s mums who pay the devastating price for making this “choice” – which is quite literally the furthest thing from a choice – to stop working.     

But the fact that early learning and care is radically unaffordable is only part of the picture. It’s not accurate to say there is a far bigger crisis looming in early childhood education and care; the stark reality is that it’s upon us.

For many years early educators, and advocates, have been raising the alarm about their pay and conditions. They are among the lowest paid workers in the country – despite doing critically valuable, essential and difficult work. They are chronically and systemically underpaid, they’re undervalued, they’re exhausted and they are walking away. The pandemic has rapidly escalated this trend and already the consequences are devastating.

In August 2021 a survey of 4000 educators showed that 72% are planning on leaving within 3 years. Why? Here’s a taste.

The report, Exhausted, undervalued and leaving: the crisis in early education found:

• 70% of educators surveyed said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ worry about their financial situation.
• 81% of centre directors say they have had difficulties in attracting and recruiting staff.
• 92% of educators told us ‘under-the-roof’ ratios compromise the safety and wellbeing of children.
• 65% of educators report that their services are already understaffed, and providers are reporting having to cap new enrolments because they can’t find enough staff.
• Over 75% of educators strongly agree that turnover negatively impacts how children learn and develop as well as their emotional wellbeing more broadly.
• Almost half of educators surveyed would not recommend ECEC as a career.

It’s not difficult then to understand why services right around the country are struggling to attract and retain educators in unprecedented numbers it it? 

In February 2022 there were 5,622 vacancies in the early childhood education and care sector across Australia which is double pre-pandemic levels. On Thursday brand new data show nearly 15% of long day care centres nationwide do not meet the staffing requirements of the National Quality Framework.

On Monday Channel Nine’s The Today Show interviewed a couple, Georgia and Dane, who live in the remote Queensland town of Julia Creek with their two boys aged 2 and 4. There is one early learning service in that town and due to finding it impossible to find early educators it will either need to close down altogether or reduce the number of children who can attend.

A town with no early learning service is a town that is baking in disadvantage before a baby is even born. It is a town where parents will struggle to work unless they have family around who can help. It is a town where children will miss out on the benefits of quality early learning, where the children will be significantly more likely to arrive at school developmentally vulnerable.

That town is not isolated. In March the Mitchell Institute published a groundbreaking report showing that more than 30% of Australians live in a neighbourhood that is a “childcare desert” which describes a place where there are three or more children for every early learning position that is available.

There are “childcare deserts” in every capital city and every state and territory, though there are more deserts in regional and remote areas. It’s hard to imagine many Australians would countenance 35% of the population living in a neighbourhood that couldn’t provide primary and secondary schooling to every child in the community.

The same ought to go for the formative early years. Access to quality early learning is an essential component of healthy development and education. It is profoundly influential in setting children and families up to thrive. Children in Australia need a system that meets their needs so that they can have the best start in life, regardless of where they live or their parents’ employment status.

Without early educators, however, all of that is moot. Without urgently stemming the loss of this critical workforce – with decent pay and conditions as a starting point – there will be no early childhood education and care. We will be setting up too many children for lifelong disadvantage. We will compromise their safety, education and development.

With every single room or centre that closes because they do not have enough staff, we will make it harder for parents to work. And we know that nine times out of ten, it will be mum who “chooses” to opt out of work if affordable, suitable care isn’t available. The safety, freedom and agency that is associated with financial independence, that is structurally denied to women, moves even further out of reach. 

Australia doesn’t just need cheaper early childhood education and care. We need early childhood education and care that is delivered by a well paid and properly valued workforce. We need quality, inclusive early education and care that is accessible to every child in the country. And we need a system that is radically more affordable.

The last decade has proved the subsidy model is unfit for purpose in delivering quality, affordable and accessible childcare. It is time for reform. 

On Sunday, spare the women of Australia the platitudes and instead seek a commitment from every political party and candidate who is standing for election on the 21st of May 2022 to make quality affordable early education and care a reality. It is the gift that will give and give and give for generations. 

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“We are creating more jobs because there is real dignity in work and everyone who can be in a job who wants a job can therefore provide for themselves and their family,” Josh Frydenberg told Channel 7 news.

If the priority for any candidate or party is creating jobs and supporting Australians to provide for their families, there is one policy that beats the rest. It’s making high quality early childhood education and care radically more affordable.

The fact Australian parents have to pay some of the highest fees in the world for childcare means that even with a job it can be difficult to provide for a family. The exorbitant cost is a genuine barrier to many parents – especially mums – working at all or taking additional shifts or days.

Changing this is an absolute boon whether you’re motivated by creating jobs, boosting productivity, setting children up for success or levelling the playing field for women.   

Just yesterday The Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work released a new report, The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Universal Early Child Education.  

It showed that making quality early learning and care free would boost the economy to the tune of at least an additional $48billion per year, generate 255,000 full time jobs in the sector and free up the equivalent of 850,000 full time workers. The fact the policy will reduce inequity, set children up for lifelong success and pay for itself is the icing on a pretty spectacular policy gateau.

Australia is in the peculiar position of having an incredibly well-educated and skilled female population that is, in effect, locked out of work after having children. 

That we rank #1 in the world for female educational attainment, but #70th for female workforce participation is stupefying. What is the point of investing resources in educating, training and skilling slightly more than half the population if we’re unwilling to invest in the infrastructure necessary for women to maintain a connection to paid work? 

As the Treasurer rightly points out there is dignity in paid work. On what reasonable grounds can Australia continue to systemically deny that dignity to women and fail to address the “reverse-wealth trajectory” that results in more than a third of single women living in poverty by the age of 60?

The cost of women being locked out of paid work is staggering. Making early learning and care radically more affordable is a powerful structural solution. It is too late to reverse the trajectory for too many women in Australia, which is why solutions for housing, safety and poverty must be implemented.  

But free quality early learning and care would disrupt a key driver behind women’s economic insecurity in Australia and change the story for the next generation of women and children.

No serious conversation about creating jobs in Australia can overlook early learning and care.    

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Every election in every democracy matters. Is it hyperbolic to say that in 2022 the election matters more than ever before? Is it outlandish to observe that the junction Australians face in May of 2022 is fundamentally different from what we faced in May of 2019?  

The last time we went to the polls to elect a federal government feels like a lifetime ago. It was before the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires that ravaged so many parts of the country. 

It was before a pandemic rendered life as we knew it redundant in ways few of us ever imagined. It was before we became familiar with lock down orders. Daily press conferences. Hard international and state borders enforced. Schools and parks and shops and offices closed. Supermarket shelves emptied. Curfews imposed. Contact tracing. JobKeeper. Fee-free childcare. Quarantine periods and isolation being the norm. Remote learning. Death by Zoom. PCR testing queues. Rapid Antigen Tests.  

It was before multiple once-in-a-hundred year flood events decimated the northern rivers in NSW and parts of South-East Queensland.  It was before the devastating impacts of rising temperatures began wreaking havoc before our very eyes in real time. It was before the IPCC declared it is now “now or never” for climate action.

It was before a number of shocking allegations of sexual harassment and assault inside Federal parliament became public. It was before more than 100,000 Australians took to the streets to protest the treatment of women and march for justice. 

Whichever way you cut it, the May 2022 Federal Election will be different because we are a different nation in a different world. 

It was shortly before the May 2019 Election I joined the board of a not-for-profit advocacy organisation called The Parenthood. I knew of the organisation, that represents parents and carers around the country and pursues positive policies for families, because of work I’d done here at Women’s Agenda, but also in the now-Nine newspapers, at Mamamia and at Marie Claire. In July of 2020 I stepped into the role of Executive Director, keen to campaign around two key policy reforms in particular: adequate paid parental leave and access to quality affordable early childhood education and care.

My professional interest in paid parental leave and early childhood education and care policy settings was first piqued in 2011 while I was working as a junior reporter at Business Review Weekly. It was my curiosity about the stubborn gender gap – in pay, leadership roles and representation – that led me there and it was the backing of a female editor that enabled me to cover the subjects extensively. 

Now, full disclosure, my personal and professional interests collided at that point. Trying to find suitable and affordable childcare for our first child was illuminating, in a practical sense, about the challenges families, but particularly mums, face in combining work and care. 

I’ve written about our experiences countless times: from the only spot for our daughter being in the CBD and having to take it despite neither my husband or I working in the CBD, from spending more on childcare than we spent on rent, from not being able to get our two  daughters into the same service. I know a version of these experiences are universal because our members tell us. Personally and professionally over the last decade I have collected countless anecdotes from mums and dads about how hard it is to be able to raise a family and provide for them.

In cities and in regional towns right around the country parents struggle to either afford or access suitable childcare. Mums and dads remain discriminated against when they request flexibility to juggle their responsibilities. An inadequate and outdated paid parental leave scheme puts women and men on markedly different paths, even in 2022, from the moment a child is conceived.     

Once these structural barriers are seen they are impossible to unsee. It’s why, a full decade later, I remain as fixated on two key issues as I was back when I was – literally – juggling a toddler and a baby.

At The Parenthood we have more than 77,000 parents and carers in our membership and our mission is to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent. It’s our mission because when parents and carers are supported children can thrive and our communities will be stronger. It’s an unapologetically ambitious mission. In different realms Australia is, and has been, a world leader so why would we shy away from being world leading in the manner in which we support children? 

Our children are, quite literally, our future. Supporting children starts with supporting their parents and carers and right now Australia lags the developed world in providing children, parents and carers with the support they need.

In a 2021 UNICEF report comparing the 41 richest countries in the world, Australia ranked:

• 37^th out of 41 on access to Paid Parental Leave
• 34^th out of 41 on access to Early Childhood Education and Care (for birth-3 year olds)
• 34^th out of 40 on affordability of ECEC

A 2020 UNICEF report analysing child wellbeing ranked Australia 32nd among 41 OECD and EU countries and found we are “falling short in delivering consistently good health, education and social outcomes for children”.

Australian parents pay the 4th most expensive early learning & care fees in the world. Despite being ranked number 1 for educational attainment for women and girls, we rank 70th for female workforce participation. The latter is connected to the former. 

In February 2021 more than 140,000 Australians wanted to work but didn’t apply because they can’t access or afford childcare.

The children who would benefit the most from quality early learning remain those least likely to attend. 

One in 5 kids in Australia arrive at school behind and they rarely catch up. It’s two in five for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and among children living in rural Australia.  Children who go to early learning are half as likely to arrive at school behind. For every dollar we spend on quality early learning we get at least $2 in return. 

Almost three quarters of all early educators are planning on leaving the sector in the next 3 years. Early learning services around the country cannot find the staff they need so are closing rooms as I write.  

Is it any surprise this cohort of workers who have spent two years on the frontline of a pandemic are exhausted, burnt out and fed up? Can you blame them for leaving when you consider that a bricklayer with the same level qualifications as an early educator takes home $2070 a week while an educator gets $953? 

If parents can’t work because it’s too expensive, if not enough kids are attending and getting the benefits and the workforce is leaving – who exactly is our Early Childhood Education & Care system working for?

Not kids!

Not mums!

Not educators!     

Expanded paid parental leave and access to affordable, quality early childhood education and care might not solve ALL of the problems we are facing as a nation in 2022. They cannot, sadly, remedy the climate crisis. 

But these reforms can – and will – transform the lives of children, women, families and the nation for the better. They will set children up for lifelong advantage. They will reduce inequity, create employment, level the playing field for mums, support dads, improve women’s safety and generate national prosperity. In health, social, educational and economic terms there are no other reforms with the capacity to transform our nation like paid parental leave and access to quality early childhood education and care.

This is, sadly, not new information. The evidence has been abundant and incontrovertible for decades. What has eluded us is a willingness to accept it and a commitment to deliver. There are positive signs this is changing and now is the moment to demand it. It will be harder for the next Federal parliament to ignore the need for change.    

In May when we go to the polls we all have a choice to make about the future of this country. Despite attempts to dismiss The Parenthood as a partisan organisation, we’re not. We’re fiercely independent and doggedly policy-focused.

We will work enthusiastically and constructively with any government – at a State or Federal level – that shares our vision to deliver a better deal for children, parents, carers and families. Not through platitudes but through bold policy and reform.   

How any Australian chooses to vote is their democratic prerogative. Between now and May at The Parenthood we’ll urge you to think about your vote and to ask the candidates in your seat where they stand on these issues. Australia cannot afford to ignore children any longer.  

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