Ms Deborah Reynolds:

I thank members for hearing the voices of the early years professionals today. It was great to hear Senator McGreehan, who came in at the end.

I am glad that members want to talk about basics. The basis of any sector or workplace is the staff. If we do not have them, there will be full day care crèches with empty rooms and playschools will close. That may sound alarmist but it is the truth. People cannot put up with things any more. I would prefer to celebrate next Tuesday afternoon with my colleagues and I do not want to go through what we went through for the past five years. We need a big change. The JLC needs to be funded. The JLC is great because it is in the current funding model and it can fit into whatever funding model is applied in the future. As Senator McGreehan has said, we need to raise morale and make this work attractive. I feel privileged to work in a room with children aged three to five years but the people who work in my sector also need a good quality of life. In the forthcoming budget we need our pay ring-fenced for the JLC.