Government to cut funding for childcare employers who fail safety standards

The Labor government has proposed potential changes to safety standards for Australian childcare centres after alarming allegations of sexual abuse were made public.

Labor’s Education Minister, Jason Clare, has put forward staunch reforms to kick off the opening of Parliament, targeting childcare centres that fail to live up to the proposed safety standards with funding cuts.

The move comes after damaging allegations arose out of a Victoria-based childcare centre involving former childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, who was arrested in relation to alleged sexual offending against eight children.

According to detectives of Victoria’s Sexual Crimes Squad, Brown’s offending occurred between April 2022 and January 2023, with the alleged victims aged between five months and two years.

The allegations involve over 70 offences – including sexual penetration of a child, contaminating goods to cause alarm, and producing child abuse material. When the allegations were first brought to light, health authorities recommended that the 1,200 children who were connected to the case be tested for potential diseases.

Greens’ early childhood education spokesperson, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, called for an immediate royal commission into safety and equality within the early childhood care sector.

“How many more horror stories from across the country need to emerge for the government to recognise the ongoing and systemic nature of abuse allegations within our childcare centres?

“We can’t keep looking away. The government must establish a royal commission to uncover the scale of the crisis and chart a way forward to keep our kids safe,” Hodgins-May said.

Clare’s proposed changes will see that funding distributed through the government-run Child Care Subsidy (CCS) could be cut off entirely for centres that fail to abide by the new safety breaches, with Clare announcing that just one breach could result in this ramification.

“It could be as simple as one [breach],” Clare told the ABC.

“This will give us the power to issue a show cause notice to a centre and say we will shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard.”

Early safety standard changes will already be introduced on 1 September, including a mandatory 24-hour reporting of complaints or incidents of physical or sexual abuse, banning of vapes in all early childcare centres, and stronger protections around digital technology.

“The safety and protection of children in early childhood education is our highest priority,” said Clare.

“Australia has a very good system of early childhood education and care, but more can be done to make sure safety guidance and measures are fit-for-purpose.”

According to Dr Jess Walsh, Minister for Early Childhood Education, withdrawing Commonwealth funding will occur against “repeat offenders” who continually fail the National Quality Standard.

“We are looking at serious repeat offenders here when it comes to breaching our National Quality Standard when it comes to serious incidents and when it comes to complaints,” Walsh said.

“So, services and providers who are failing to meet the standards that children need and that families expect, they’re the services and providers that we’re looking at with this legislation.

“… From there, there are a number of steps that the legislation gives us. We can start by issuing a show-cause notice as to why that provider, that service, should maintain their Commonwealth funding through the Child Care Subsidy. And we can make that show-cause notice public. We think that is a really strong step that will drive change …”

In terms of the proposed CCS changes, advocacy group For Parents co-founder Cecilia Cobb has called for even stronger measures, pushing for better control of the subsidy.

“Parents need more power and more options over who is caring for their children.

“Giving parents more control over the use of CCS would allow families to choose care that best suits their needs, whether that’s long day care, in-home care delivered by a nanny or grandparent, or using a co-working space,” Cobb said.

“The situation across the country is fast becoming a national crisis. Families are losing trust in childcare providers, and others are locked out of the CCS because their care doesn’t fit a 9-5 model.”

“The government has consulted unions, providers and educators on their most recent reforms, but to date has not consulted with the most important stakeholders: parents.”