Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May was sworn into Parliament today taking on the portfolios of Science, Industry and Innovation, and Early Childhood Education and Care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll my life experiences have led me here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFacing fire and drought growing up on our family farm in regional Victoria. Seeing the impacts of unjust policies on people like my partner, a refugee who fled a warzone. Feeling the pressures of daily life as a working mum of young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am honoured to continue the incredibly important work of our party and movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a working parent, I know the challenges of juggling a career with kids. I\u2019m deeply grateful for the important work of early childhood educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of my biggest priorities as the newest Greens Senator is to fight for free early childhood education and care for everyone across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn this cost of living crisis, early childhood education and care is too expensive and too hard to access. As a result, women are missing out on paid work and they\u2019re being left behind because they can\u2019t afford care for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChildcare is an essential public service just like school, and for children, the early years are the most important in their development. It removes barriers that limit choices for women, boosts women\u2019s capacity to engage in paid work and relieves financial pressures in a cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI also recognise that my ability to do this work is only possible because of the wonderful work of educators, and every day I\u2019ll be fighting to ensure that their critical role in our education system is recognised and that they get the pay that they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere has never been a more important time for the Greens to continue to work with our communities to prioritise people over corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greens Leader Adam Bandt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to welcome my friend Steph Hodgins-May as the newest member of our Greens Senate team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe climate and cost of living crises are biting hard and Labor is making the problems worse. Steph will hit the ground running this budget week, including pushing Labor to really prioritise women’s economic freedom by making child care free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May was sworn into Parliament today taking on the portfolios of Science, Industry and Innovation, and Early Childhood Education and Care. Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May: \u201cAll my life experiences have led me here. \u201cFacing fire and drought growing up on our family farm in regional Victoria. Seeing the impacts of unjust policies … Continue reading “NEW GREENS SENATOR STEPH HODGINS-MAY SWORN INTO PARLIAMENT TODAY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26643,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26642\/revisions\/26643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}