Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner has welcomed a suite of urgent child safety reforms agreed by education ministers at a meeting in Sydney, describing it as a significant step towards restoring community confidence in the childcare sector.
National, state and territory ministers committed to a trial of CCTV and the rollout of mobile phone bans in childcare centres, a mandatory National Educator Register, and mandatory child safety training for everyone involved in the sector, including management. Further changes to the Working With Children Check system are also being developed as part of a coordinated national response.
The measures follow allegations of abuse of vulnerable children in childcare centres and media reporting of systemic failures that have fuelled public anger across the country.
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said: ‘Today’s urgent meeting of education ministers across the country shows the importance of strong leadership from the Australian Government to fast-track the implementation of child safety measures across the federation, many of which have been recommended in previous inquiries.’
“I support the new measures that have been announced and I commend Australian Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh and Education Minister Jason Clare for bringing state and territory ministers together to overcome the barriers to reform that our federal system creates.”
Hollonds said progress on national reforms should mirror a recent agreement by Attorneys-General to improve Working With Children Checks. ‘The national reforms announced today reinforce the need for leaders across the federation to work together ‘as a team’ on child safety and wellbeing, as was noted a week ago by Australian General Michelle Rowland, whose landmark meeting of Attorneys-General agreed to implement recommendations on improving the Working With Children Check system dating back to 2015.’
While welcoming the commitments, the Commissioner cautioned that public trust would not be rebuilt overnight. ‘There is clearly lot more work that needs to be done to restore public confidence in our childcare industry and I urge our national, state and territory leaders to continue this newfound willingness and urgency to work together on improving child wellbeing.’
Hollonds said recent revelations had exposed structural shortcomings in current oversight. ‘Rolling scandals in the childcare sector have revealed the current systems are geared to protecting adults and government administrators, not the vulnerable children in their care.’
Citing the findings of the Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review, released this week, she urged governments to embed children’s interests in all decision-making. ‘As recommended by the Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review on Wednesday, the safety, rights and best interests of children must be the paramount consideration.’
‘This guiding principle needs to underpin all future actions by leaders across the federation in order to ensure that child safety and wellbeing is a national priority, not just in the childcare sector but in the child protection and child justice sectors too, and that governments are held accountable for protecting our youngest citizens.’
The Australian Human Rights Commission has previously called for early, coordinated interventions to prevent harm to children. Its Help Way Earlier report, which sets out ways to improve safety and wellbeing for children caught up in the child justice system, is available at: https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/childrens-rights/publications/help-way-earlier.
