Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Importantly, the bill gives the secretary powers that they haven't had before to make actions taken under the legislation public. The disposition will be to publish. We think parents have a right to know about compliance action in relation to the services that their children are in. There is also a broader body of work in relation to that transparency going on with the education minister's process that we've been talking about.

Of course, we need to manage parents' understanding of what's going on in their services and make sure that they're confident. If publication would cause any harm to a service, and, really, to the families in that service, then that needs to be taken into consideration. It's probably also important to note that, if there's any imminent risk to children in an early learning service, the state regulators have the power to close those services down, and they can and do use those powers.