Childcare wage fight continues as Knox Council says no to 15% boost

Parents were disheartened to hear council staff respond to their questions during this week’s council meeting with a flat refusal to consider the extra pay bumps – arguing it already pays workers above the award rate.

Matthew Sims
October 31, 2025

Knox Council will not apply for a federal funding scheme that would boost childcare worker wages by at least 15 percent, in a move that has angered unions and parents who say staff are being left behind.

👶Quick recap: As part of temporary support passed through Parliament last November, the Department of Education is delivering a Worker Retention Payment focused on early education for two years.

The government payment includes a wage increase of 15 percent above the modern award rates and a minimum additional 20 percent of funding for other eligible costs.
Eligible childcare workers include early childhood teachers, educators, cooks, co-ordinators, room leaders, support workers, trainees and apprentices.
Knox Council has now missed the deadline for requesting for payments to be backdated, meaning educators and staff members have lost the opportunity to receive potential payments dating back to December 2.
Applications still remain open for current payments until the end of September next year.

Loud and proud: Knox Council’s burnt-out childcare workers demand a rethink on pay rise funding

Union representatives and local council childcare workers now have to wait and see if their noisy party will inspire councils to apply for the payment.

💰No cost to families: To ensure the cost of the wage increase is not passed on to families, providers who receive the payment must limit fee growth and set a cap of 4.2 percent until next August.

The current situation: During Monday night’s council meeting, Knox Council director of Connected Communities, Judy Chalkley, dashed any hopes for the council to take on the funding, confirming it would not be applying for the grants as it already pays its educators “above the award rate” under the current Enterprise Agreement.

Chalkley said other factors leading to the decision included uncertainties of the funding model, the unequal application of funds, restrictions to fee growth and the temporary nature of the funding.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒Parents sign up: During the meeting, Knox Council formally received an online petition featuring 185 signatures from local parents, with the petition now at 200 signatures at the time of publication.

Broad services: Knox Council operates two Knox Children and Family Centres - one in Wantirna South and one in Bayswater, with services including long day care for newborns to six-year-olds, kindergarten programs, a Maternal and Child Health Service and playgroups.

The union voice: Representatives from the Victorian/Tasmanian branch of the Australian Services Union (ASU) have been advocating for Knox Council and other councils across the state to consider applying for the funding since last December.

The union organised two rallies outside the Knox Council offices – one on Monday September 8 and the other on Monday September 29.

Speaking to the Eastern Melburnian, ASU Victorian/Tasmanian branch secretary, Tash Wark, said the decision from the council not to take on the payments “beggars belief”.

🗣️“You can't have a good-faith discussion when one side says they're “looking into it” and the CEO then goes on leave for two months,” Wark said. “Because Knox Council has stalled and played games, our members have already lost thousands of dollars in backpay."

“It’s essentially free money”: Knox among councils refusing to support childcare worker pay rise

Workers across Knox’s early childhood education and care centres are calling for a pay bump as they contend with stress and high turnover rates.

📢Speaking up: Local parent Sarah Jago spoke during the council meeting on behalf of the impacted educators.

🗣️ “They are dedicated employees and are feeling exceedingly undervalued,” Jago said.
Speaking to the Eastern Melburnian on Friday, Jago said local parents and teachers “are pretty much at their wits end.”
“I know of more than one educator who's pretty much ready to leave and these educators have been with Knox for five, 10, 15 years,” Jago said.

The MP weighs in: In a statement sent to the Eastern Melburnian, Federal MP for Aston, Mary Doyle, said she has met with Knox Council representatives and written to them a number of times “to reinforce the importance of the Government's Worker Retention Payment and how vital it is to supporting this dedicated workforce.”

🗣️“It is disappointing to see that Knox City Council have missed the deadline for backpay, but I hope they will reconsider their position so these educators can receive their well-deserved pay rise,” said Doyle.

⏭️Next steps: ASU representatives and parents will be meeting with Federal MP for Aston Mary Doyle in two weeks’ time.