It was late April 2022, three and a bit weeks out from the Federal election. I slid into then-Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s DM’s and asked if he would participate in a forum with parents, hosted by The Parenthood, to talk about early childhood education and care and paid parental leave. “Sure!” came his response.
Seriously???? I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. I shared the development with the Parenthood team and quickly our minds turned to the practical reality of … err … having no clue where to even start about bringing this forum to life.
I realised I was DM’ing a man with a fair bit going on and while I knew he definitely wasn’t the person to talk through the event logistics I was at a loss as to who was.
Undeterred, I made a few phone calls to different staff in his office and discovered a parent forum event was genuinely on the cards.
A chat with parents at a kitchen table was the preferred format. The date was set for the 14th of May.
The shadow early education minister Amanda Rishworth would come too.
My friend Gen offered her house … not just to accommodate a group of 8 parents with the prospective PM in her dining room but to scoping visits from the federal police detail, and the entire travelling election campaign media circus of over 65 journalists and camera crew in tow.
Maddy and Michael began reaching out to parents to participate and soon enough we had a solid group lined up. We wanted parents from across the country who could speak to the various challenges they faced with the cost and availability of early childhood education and care and paid parental leave. It was important to us that the parents gathered would represent a spectrum of families in Australia.
There were no caveats or instructions from the campaign about the parents we should – or shouldn’t – assemble. The morning of the event we sent a list of names of the parents coming to the Opposition Leader’s office but no additional detail.
At that stage I had only met Anthony Albanese on a handful of occasions fairly briefly. The first was in February 2021. I visited Canberra to launch The Parenthood’s research report Making Australia The Best Place in The World To Be A Parent. The Opposition leader was one of 50+ MPs I offered a briefing to and he accepted. His interest in universal early childhood education and care created clear rapport. We absolutely share views on supporting children and parents and women but we didn’t know one another really well.
All of which is to say that right up until the minute he arrived at Gen’s house, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I had never hosted an event during an election campaign and the member for Grayndler wasn’t someone I knew well enough to be even remotely chill. So, yes, of course, I was losing my mind. Outwardly, I focused on the art of Faking It Until I Made It.
We had assembled a group of parents and two important politicians to facilitate an important conversation eight days out from a Federal election, so the absolute least I could do was pretend really well that I knew what I was doing.
When Anthony Albanese arrived, we had a few moments to walk from the front door to the kitchen table, during which time he asked whose house it was so he could thank them.
We both sat down at the table, we made introductions and a genuinely frank and candid conversation ensued for a solid 40 minutes. He listened. Parents spoke. About financial stress. About postnatal depression. About loneliness. About love and identity struggles. About juggling work and family. About parenting. I was struck by how easily he connected with everyone.
The entire conversation was unscripted, free flowing and authentic; he couldn’t have prepared speaking notes because each story shared was unique. Nothing had been foreshadowed. Everyone at the table was heard and it was a deeply affecting conversation with more than one parent moved to tears.
It contrasted starkly with the media press conference that took place immediately afterwards. Once that concluded, as promised, he sought out Gen to thank her for hosting. He was gracious and kind, getting photos with all of the parents.
We didn’t know that eight days later he would be the Prime Minister. I did know, though, that I really wanted a Prime Minister who was willing and able to sit down with a group of ordinary Australian parents of young children and engage in a meaningful conversation about their lives – and recognise their needs as valid and worthy of being a policy priority.
I didn’t know, then, that it would be the first of many parent forums I would have the opportunity to host with him.
Over the last three years The Parenthood has facilitated direct conversations with parents and the Prime Minister three more times.
We have never been given instructions about “who” the parents need to be. They haven’t needed to be vetted by anyone and we haven’t had to discuss talking points. To me that speaks volumes.
That seeking parents out has been a priority for the PM himself and that it doesn’t need to be a pre-scripted set piece.
The contrast is that we have struggled to have meaningful conversations with many MPs from the Liberal party – let alone connect them with parents.
Giving parents a voice on issues impacting their lives is The Parenthood’s primary function. It is profoundly powerful to have a Prime Minister who seeks their voices out and wants to deliver policies and reform to improve their lives.
During the election campaign, when asked about his ultimate legacy, the Prime Minister didn’t hesitate: universal, affordable early childhood education and care. In his first term, the groundwork was laid — with progress on educator wages, the replacement of the restrictive activity test with a guaranteed three days of care, and investments to ease costs for families.
Now, the path forward is clear. Australia must address critical shortages in supply, invest in inclusion so no child misses out and implement lasting funding reform to make early education and care truly affordable and accessible for all.
For children, parents, and grandparents — current and future — this reform is rightly compared to Medicare in its potential impact. It promises to permanently improve lives, address inequity right across the lifespan, strengthen communities and boost the economy. The Prime Minister has now been re-elected with a resounding majority government. The mandate from Australians is clear. Universal early childhood education and care is closer than even before.