Senator Maria Kovacic
Shadow Assistant Minister for Women
Shadow Assistant Minister for Productivity and Deregulation
Senator for New South Wales
Senator Matt O’Sullivan
Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning
Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence
Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
Today, the Senate Education and Employment References Committee has tabled its landmark report into the quality and safety of Australia’s early childhood education and care system.
Australia’s early childhood education and care system is sustained by the dedication of professional educators and providers who help families balance work and raising children. However, the inquiry uncovered serious flaws that threaten the safety of children and undermine confidence in a system families rely on every day.
The report provides critical scrutiny of a sector in which perpetrators of sexual abuse have been able to hide in plain sight. It demands immediate attention from the Albanese Labor Government.
The committee heard that the Australian Centre for Countering Child Exploitation (ACCCE) receives an average of 226 reports of online child sexual exploitation every single day, with more than 82,000 reports in 2024-25 alone, up from 58,000 the year prior. Police proceeded against 4,400 child sex offenders in 2022-23. Of those offences, 40 per cent occurred in community settings.
The evidence is deeply alarming. Child sex offenders deliberately target childcare centres, seeking access to very young, often non-verbal children. Offenders have passed Working With Children Checks, been employed in services rated as exceeding national standards, and been charged with online exploitation offences. Existing employment law compounds the problem, actively discouraging providers from acting on concerns or alerting prospective employers.
The inquiry also exposed serious regulatory gaps, including no mechanism to immediately prevent underperforming providers from expanding. There is a troubling disconnect between quality ratings and child safety outcomes: serious incidents reported to regulators rose to 160 per 100 services in 2024-25, up from 148 the prior year and 139 in 2022-23. Established in the wake of reports of horrific child abuse in childcare centres across Australia, the committee’s inquiry spanned more than seven months, six public hearings and 129 submissions from parents, educators, providers, experts and regulators.
Key recommendations include:
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Integrate key child safety mechanisms within law enforcement apparatus
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Increased frequency of spot check visits to services and setting targets for compliance activities through Education Ministers
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Ban underperforming providers from opening new or expanding existing centres
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Change the Fair Work Act to prioritise child safety over the workplace rights of child predators
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Put parents at the centre of consultation on future policy development.
The Committee also heard broad evidence from a range of stakeholders who were concerned about childcare deserts in regional and rural Australia; and the need for more flexibility and choice for parents.
The Committee accepted the Productivity Commission’s finding that models of “universal childcare” would increase demand in a strained system with only a minimal impact on workforce participation. The Productivity Commission modelled significant costs of “universal childcare”, finding these models come at a higher cost and do not prioritise families experiencing disadvantage.
Comments attributable to Senator Maria Kovacic:
“Paedophiles are actively coordinating to target early education and childcare settings. Despite the seriousness of these threats, the government’s policy continues to prioritise expansion of the system, effectively pursuing a one-size-fit-all approach without adequately addressing critical safeguarding risks.”
“Law enforcement and employers need the powers to adequately deal with this significant problem and protect our children.”
“The report outlines practical reforms, including stronger integration with law enforcement, better worker screening, more rigorous training, and increased unannounced inspections.”
“The Government should focus first on the safety of children by addressing the significant flaws within the system and addressing child care deserts in regional and rural communities.”
“Parents have rightly lost trust in this system and they cannot be expected to abide by the government’s one-size-fits-all model where serious child safety concerns exist.”
“Parents expect their children to be safe when they drop them at early education and child care settings. It is a systemic failure that that is not the case. Parents have sadly lost trust in this system and are demanding choice as to the care of their children.”
Comments attributable to Senator Matt O’Sullivan:
“Parents should have absolute confidence that when they entrust their children to the care of others, their children are safe. This report shows that confidence is being undermined by real and systemic failures under the Albanese Labor Government’s watch.”
“The evidence also underscored the need for greater flexibility and choice for families, something the Albanese Government has failed to prioritise. Parents want more of a say in how they care for their children, and the current system is not delivering it.”
“Instead, the Albanese Government is pursuing a one-size-fits-all model that risks forcing families into a system already under strain.”
“The committee’s findings reinforce the Productivity Commission’s view that a universal childcare model would be complex, costly, and would not prioritise families experiencing disadvantage.”
“The Albanese Government has a clear set of recommendations to focus on the safety of children and fixing the failures identified in this report.”
“The pathway forward is clear: strengthen safety, fix the regulatory gaps, and give families the flexibility they are asking for.”
The committee’s report can be found here: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ECECqualitysafety
Recommendations:
Safety in childcare
1. The committee recommends that the Government prioritise the closer integration of law enforcement into current child safety reforms, to allow a more joined-up approach to child safety. Specifically, the committee recommends the government consider:
- as a priority—closer integration of the WWCC register, the National Educator Register and police/regulator intelligence;
- reforms to allow the use of facial recognition tools for the purpose of rapid victim identification by police in cases of child sexual assault, subject to appropriate legislative guardrails and oversight mechanisms commensurate with the sensitivity of the technology and the privacy interests engaged, and noting its status as an emerging technology;
- establishing appropriate mechanisms, whether operational, structural or otherwise, to allow regular two-way feedback between police and regulators in relation to sub-threshold matters; and
- establishing clear guidance on the preservation of CCTV footage and other records for evidentiary purposes in cases involving alleged child sexual abuse, including appropriate retention periods, access protocols, and safeguards to ensure that any such requirements do not result in the surveillance of children beyond what is necessary for child protection purposes.
2. The committee recommends that the Australian Government refer to the Australian Law Reform Commission the question of whether existing sentencing frameworks for serious child sexual abuse offences adequately serve as a deterrent and protect children from individuals who pose an ongoing risk. The referral should consider whether current sentencing provisions, including for repeat offenders, are commensurate with the gravity of these offences, and what reforms may be appropriate to ensure that those who abuse, exploit or prey upon children do not remain a threat to child safety.
3. The committee recommends that the Australian Government with the state and territory governments develop clear, consistent timeframes for regulators to respond to allegations of concerning behaviour and breaches of the National Law and regulations.
4. The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in consultation with state and territory governments, consider expanding access to the National Early Childhood Worker Register to enable prospective employers to undertake appropriate pre-employment checks. This should include consideration of mechanisms to allow employers to access relevant information relating to an individual’s regulatory history, including any prohibition notices, suspensions, or substantiated breaches of workplace health and safety or service-level policies, subject to appropriate privacy and procedural safeguards.
5. The committee recommends that the Australian Government amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to ensure that employment settings appropriately reflect the safeguarding requirements of child-facing workplaces, including early childhood education and care, and protect employers who, in good faith and on reasonable grounds, take adverse employment action (including suspension, role reassignment, or termination) due to concerns about a worker’s potential risk to children.
6. The committee recommends that the Australian Government review how national child safety training is delivered and assessed in early childhood education and care sector to ensure it drives genuine engagement with safeguarding. This should include strengthening assessment requirements so that participants demonstrate a clear understanding of the material, and examining whether current settings adequately require engagement and robust evaluation, with ongoing monitoring incorporated into regular audit processes. The review should ensure the training functions as a real safeguard that builds capability and awareness, rather than a procedural exercise.
7. The committee recommends that the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, in consultation with relevant peak bodies, develop and implement guidelines for anaphylaxis prevention and management for children with allergies; and guidelines for the appropriate safety and care of children with type 1 diabetes.
Workplaces and employment
8. The committee recommends that, as part of its rapid review, the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority recommend that all jurisdictions amend their regulatory framework to:
- Ensure the practice of active rather than passive supervision, to minimise opportunities for unsafe behaviours; and
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Address the underlying operational and regulatory pressures that are contributing to reduced educator-to-child ratios during sleep and rest periods in early childhood education and care services.
9. The committee recommends the Australian Government through Education Minister Meetings or through a request to ACECQA, increase the frequency of authorised officer spot check visits to early childhood education and care services, and ensure that authorised officers receive appropriate training, including in early childhood and care practice. To strengthen oversight, the policy should incorporate minimum targets, such as a minimum of four unannounced spot checks per year. The committee notes this may necessitate a resource commitment from states and territories.
10. The committee recommends that the Australian Government publicly announce whether it intends to continue or cease the Worker Retention Payment as soon as possible to provide the early childhood education and care sector with certainty.
11. The committee recommends that the Australian Government consider tax concessions for the cohort of the early childhood education and care workforce for Public Benevolent Institutions that is currently unable to access salary packaging concessions to encourage staff retention and reduce turnover.
12. The committee recommends that the Australian Government work with the regulators of both vocational education and training and higher education to ensure high-quality educators and early learning teachers are entering the profession.
Regulatory Burden
13. The committee recommends that the Australian Government with the state and territory governments urgently commission an independent review of the National Quality Framework, focusing on how services are assessed against the National Quality Standard and how assessments can be made more accurate, transparent and consistent.
14. The committee recommends that the Australian Government, as a matter of urgency:
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Publish grant guidelines and confirm the application opening date for the professional development subsidy ahead of the commencement of mandatory national child safety training obligations for new staff on 14 August 2026;
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Provide clear public guidance on the total funding available under the subsidy, the allocation methodology, and the treatment of training costs incurred by providers prior to the opening of applications;
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Ensure that the subsidy administration process does not disadvantage providers (particularly small and medium operators and not-for-profit services,) who incur upfront training costs for new staff before applications open, and consider mechanisms to allow retrospective claims for eligible costs incurred from the commencement of mandatory training obligations; and
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Review whether the subsidy adequately accounts for the full range of costs associated with mandatory compliance, including out-of-pocket expenses such as payments to casual staff completing training outside rostered hours, and the administrative burden placed on providers, particularly not-for-profit services, in managing grant applications and acquittals, recognising that for not-for-profit providers, unsubsidised compliance costs are borne directly by the communities and children they serve.
15. The committee recommends that regulatory authorities provide clear, timely and actionable feedback to services following assessment and rating processes, to support continuous improvement and greater transparency.
16. The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in consultation with state and territory governments, introduce regulatory mechanisms to prohibit early childhood education and care providers from expanding or establishing additional services where they are not consistently meeting the National Quality Standard across their existing services. In implementing this measure, governments should consider clear thresholds and criteria to ensure that expansion is contingent on demonstrated and sustained compliance with quality and safety requirements.
Funding for early childhood education and care
17. The committee recommends that the Australian Government as a matter of urgency, review its support for children with additional needs, including the existing Inclusion Support Program and the impacts of the Thriving Kids program, with a view to providing funding certainty for families and early childhood education and care providers.
18. The committee recommends that the Australian Government ensure that the Community Child Care Fund is sufficiently funded to meet existing demand for services in childcare deserts and consider models better suited to thin markets.
19. The committee recommends that the Australian Government together with the state and territory governments discuss the matter of inflated rental fees and license fees, including those charged by public primary schools, for early childhood education and care services at a future Education Ministers Meeting and consider potential measures to address this issue.
Flexibility and choice
20. The committee recommends that future policy development includes, as a general principle, consultation with parents so that support for families considers flexibility and choice for parents, as well as early childhood development outcomes for children in their early years.
21. The committee recommends that the Australian Government improve accessibility and clarity of information regarding the Child Care Subsidy, including through the development of a user-friendly calculator on Service Australia’s website to address the difficulties families experience in understanding their eligibility and entitlements.
Ratios in Outside School Hours Care
22. The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in consultation with state and territory governments, review educator-to-child ratio requirements in Outside School Hours Care to ensure they are calibrated to the developmental and supervision needs of school-aged children. The review should consider the differing needs of younger and older primary151 school-aged children, whether activity-based or age-differentiated staffing arrangements are appropriate across different Outside School Hours Care settings and transitions, and how ratio settings can maintain child safety while supporting the viability of services, particularly in regional, remote and smaller school communities.
23. The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in consultation with state and territory governments, undertake a comprehensive review of the appropriateness of the National Quality Framework as it applies to Outside School Hours Care, with a view to developing a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework that reflects the distinct nature of school-aged care.
[ENDS]