Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025, which amends A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to give the Commonwealth government power to cut off funding to childcare centres that don't meet safety and quality standards; to allow Commonwealth officers to perform unannounced visits to detect fraud and non-compliance across the sector; and to actively allow stronger 'name and shame' powers, especially on the StartingBlocks website, by expanding the secretary's powers to publicise details about providers.

Today, according to the Productivity Commission, more than 1.4 million children across Australia aged between zero and 12 attend an early childhood education and care setting, of which there are more than 19,000 across Australia. The ECEC system, as it is known, has seen much growth in the last 15 years, with the number of places having grown by some 50 per cent between 2013 and 2023, largely under the settings of the former coalition government. The national body charged with regulating standards in the sector, the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, was only created in 2012 which, while sounding like a long time ago, is one of the youngest of its counterpart bodies, with the national regulatory bodies in both higher education and vocational education fields having been created sometime earlier.

There are few things more important and more sacred than the safety of our children, at no more precious time than their early years. Every moment is laden both with learning as well as vulnerability. It is a time when many children cannot communicate beyond smiles and tears. Every parent who drops their child off at a childcare centre entrusts that service with the most precious part of themselves. Sometimes that is a comfortable choice. Sometimes that is fuelled by need: to get back to work to get back to feeding the family and the mortgage. Parents deserve to be able to rely on such a service without fear or uncertainty, yet, right now, that trust is shaking.

Like many Australians, I have felt deep revulsion and sorrow at the reports of alleged abuse taking place in early learning settings—the most recent and horrifying example being the case in Victoria that has left parents reeling, and our entire community rightfully shocked, when this news hit the papers earlier this month.

On 1 July, Victoria Police announced that Joshua Dale Brown, a 26-year-old man with a long history of work in childcare settings in Victoria, had been charged with over 70 alleged offences. As a result, infectious disease testing was recommended for 2,000 children. It has emerged that the alleged offender worked in over 20 childcare centres between 2017 and 2024. The Victorian government has ordered a review into its childcare sector, due to report by 15 August 2025.

The Victorian opposition, however, has already announced its intent to implement a series of safety measures were it to be successful in next year's state election, including the publication of safety data relating to each Victorian ECEC setting; the publication of staffing levels and qualifications; changes to the Working with Children Check, including a reduction of the validity period from five years to three years; extensions to the safety training of workers; reviewing the content of the current Certificate III and diploma courses which qualify for work in the area; to establish a register for all qualified ECEC workers; and finally, banning all personal devices and installing CCTV at all centres.

To our collective shame, this is not the first time we've heard of such crimes, but it must be the last time we fail to act quickly and decisively. Our children deserve better. This legislation today will make a start not only on addressing the issues before us now but on rebuilding confidence in a system that millions of Australian families rely on every single day.

I thank the Minister for Education and his team, as well as his senior officials, who have briefed me and the shadow minister for education and early learning, Senator the Hon Jonathon Duniam, on the proposed measures in this bill a number of times.

The Commonwealth's role in this sector is largely one of funder, through the childcare subsidy, which, according to the government's own figures, costs the Australian people more than $16 billion each year, representing the 11th or 12th largest expenditure program under the remit of the entire Australian government. Through its funding, the Australian government can play an important leadership role in standards and system setting. While the Australian government largely foots the bill, the states and territories continue to hold the reins on most regulation and safety measures and, indeed, oversee the police forces charged with identifying any criminal behaviour which might be occurring in these settings.

This bill, however, expands the Commonwealth's contribution to safety. It is one part of that national response and, while we welcome its introduction, I must be clear: it cannot be the beginning and end of the government's plan.

This bill gives the Secretary of the Department of Education new powers, stronger powers, to cancel or suspend childcare subsidy approvals if a provider is failing to meet appropriate quality or safety standards. That is important as it will signal to the sector that safety is essential to each centre's ongoing existence. It also signals that persistent noncompliance and poor track records won't be tolerated and that the right to access government funding comes with real responsibility and consequences.

The changes in this bill strengthen Commonwealth powers to act when serious quality or safety concerns arise. They empower the Department of Education to respond when providers pose a risk to children, including suspending or cancelling their approval to receive taxpayer money. But this bill alone will not fix the childcare system. It is a necessary step but only one step.

The bill will also grant new powers to the secretary of the department to refuse to approve a provider or suspend or cancel an earlier approval in the event she or he is not satisfied that the provider continues to give regard to quality, safety and compliance. The bill will also build the secretary's ability to publish information about actions taken against providers, from suspensions and cancellations to infringement notices and conditions placed on a provider's approval. This is a critical step in building transparency and builds on the work that the coalition did in government to strengthen transparency and make information available to parents, especially quality ratings available on the Starting Blocks website. We agree that parents have a right to know whether the service caring for their child has a history of breaches or disciplinary action. By shining a light on poor practice, we not only empower parents; we drive up standards across the board.

The secretary will also be able to publicise suspensions and cancellations, as well as any conditions imposed on a provider or any refusal to expand or vary earlier approvals and the reasons why. Infringement notices will also be able to be issued, including the details of the notice, contraventions and any levied fines.

One of the most meaningful elements of this legislation is the new power for unannounced visits to childcare centres by persons authorised by the secretary under the act. This is a significant departure from current arrangements. The Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act enables entry to premises for monitoring either with consent or under a warrant. I am advised by the department's officials that, until now, the practice has been that the department would give up to two weeks notice before visiting services and, when they did go, they were accompanied by the Australian Federal Police. This largely reflects the fact that entry was sought to asses the financial integrity of the childcare subsidy rather than the safety and quality in ECEC settings.

Unsurprisingly, there have been reports of some providers using that notice period to clean up the books, scrub records and present a false front to regulators. With this bill, that should change. Officials will be able to walk into a centre unannounced, like state regulators already can, and observe what's happening on the ground, not to conduct a criminal investigation but to conduct spot checks, check documentation, verify working-with-children checks and to also flag with state regulators any concerns, such as that basic safety and hygiene standards are not being met. This isn't about catching people out for the sake of it; it's about safeguarding integrity and restoring rigour and faith in a $16 billion annual program and giving parents the peace of mind they deserve.

While we acknowledge that there are concerns about potential duplication of Commonwealth and state and territory responsibilities for conducting compliance visits to childcare centres, the Department of Education has provided assurances that it will be working in collaboration with states and territories. The minister cannot allow this to become an overall reduction in the important quality and safety work which rests with the state and territory regulators. It will act as a deterrent. If providers know there's a greater chance of a government official walking in at any time, the incentive to always do the right thing increases.

We do appreciate that this bill has been prepared with haste, and we note that there are still questions to be answered. I am grateful to the sector for the guidance they have provided to the coalition on questions requiring greater clarification to ensure providers can meet the changes set out in this legislation, such as that, while the legislation empowers the secretary to revoke a provider's approval, it does not provide a clear definition of what constitutes 'persistent' noncompliance and nor does it spell out how many breaches are too many or whether a single serious incident will suffice. These are not minor details, not for people running centres. They are the difference between a system that is fair and effective and one that is opaque and unpredictable.

We understand that a new national compliance framework is in development and we will assess it carefully when it becomes available. We cannot allow vague discretion to become the enemy of due process or natural justice. What's needed is clarity of a timely nature for providers, parents and the public.

We acknowledge that the work of keeping children safe will, in fact, never be done. It is a daily obligation on all of us. When we were in government we did not sit on our hands. In particular, we accepted and took seriously our response to the Commonwealth targeted recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Former prime minister Morrison delivered a national apology address on behalf of all Australians and established the National Redress Scheme to compensate and support survivors, the National Office for Child Safety, and the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse to increase understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse on victims and survivors. Confronting heinous and unthinkable crimes against children is the responsibility of all governments and all parliamentarians and requires all leaders to work together. This is another moment for national leadership.

While the Commonwealth Department of Education has done what it can in terms of instituting processes relating to regulation safety, we remain concerned about the pace of activity in leading the states and territories to do their part. The next meeting of state and territory education ministers is not scheduled until the middle of August. That is still weeks away. Given the severity of the crimes alleged in Victoria, the deep concern of Australian parents and the broad outcry in the public media, including in today's papers, that crime has gone unheeded and unpunished, a few weeks is still far too long to wait. I trust that the Minister for Early Childhood Education in the other place has been in constant communication with her state and territory colleagues, as I have been with the shadow minister for early childhood and education in Victoria, Ms Jess Wilson, since the revelations in Victoria were made.

I ask the government to consider bringing this meeting forward and then to set regular meetings of early childhood ministers. There is no justifiable reason to delay urgent national coordination on child safety. Parents are watching. They are worried, and they want action now, not in the better part of two months since the Victorian allegations were on the front page of every Australian newspaper.

The meeting of ministers should focus on key priorities, including speeding up the implementation of a national register of early educators and harmonising the working with children check system, which lacks standardisation and only identifies those whose behaviour has resulted in a conviction. I know this matter has been taken up by my colleague the shadow attorney-general, the member for Berowra, with his counterpart. They also need to look at implementing a mobile phone ban. The national model code for taking images or videos of children while providing early childhood education and care, developed by the national regulator, is currently voluntary. These are basic commonsense measures.

In times of crisis, Australians don't want politics. They want to see us unified. On this issue, from the outset, we have worked constructively with the government and will continue to do so. As the Leader of the Opposition pledged at the National Press Club, the coalition will always stand up for the safety of women and children. Their safety is above politics, and we will not play any games. As the opposition leader said here in question time last week:

I can't think of many issues in my time in this parliament that have made me feel as physically sick as this one has, and I know this feeling is shared by members across the aisle.

There is a lot of good work being done in services across Australia, and the vast majority of educators are dedicated, hard-working professionals who care deeply about the children in their care every day. No parent should ever have to ask whether their child is safe in child care. No child should ever suffer harm in a place that is meant to nurture them, and no government should ever respond to tragedy with half-measures or delay. We stand ready to work with the government, the states and territories and the sector itself to build a stronger, safer early education system—one that parents can trust and children can thrive in and one that reflects the values of care, safety and excellence that every Australian child deserves.

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