‘Is my child safe?': Jason Clare faces a quagmire in childcare crisis — fixing a sector without controlling all the levers
Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, said the allegations from Victoria had panicked families countrywide.
'I haven't seen parents' trust in safety rattled in the way it is now,' she told Guardian Australia.
'It's not just parents in Melbourne or Victoria being fearful of early childhood education – many are engaging for the first time, asking 'is my child safe?''
Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email
It's the quagmire facing education minister Jason Clare and early childhood minister Jess Walsh as parliament returns on Tuesday for the first time since the election. While this week was meant to be a victory lap for the government – highlighting Labor's thumping 94-seat caucus, capped by giving a parade to their Hecs debt reduction bill – the minister now finds himself facing urgent demands to safeguard a system where he doesn't control all the levers, with critical safety functions shared across eight state and territory systems.
Labor has put early education at the centre of its agenda following prime minister Anthony Albanese singling out universal childcare as his 'legacy' during the election campaign – by giving pay rises to educators, offering childcare in its free Tafe program, and widening access to subsidies.
But providers say they need more to keep kids safe.
One major Australian childcare provider said they needed Canberra to do more on safety training and lead the states into establishing nationally consistent rules on reporting systems and stripping working-with-children accreditation, which can vary by jurisdiction.
'States don't talk to each other,' one executive said.
More training, including pupil-free days each year for training – like primary and high schools – has been mooted.
'Quality and safety are inextricably linked. Better qualified and experienced teachers translate to improved risk,' Dent said, calling better training for workers 'the most significant piece' in keeping kids safer.
Clare will introduce a bill this fortnight empowering the commonwealth to terminate federal subsidies to childcare operators guilty of egregious safety breaches, ban providers failing minimum standards, boost unannounced spot-checks and issue public notices to underperforming centres.
A separate push for a national worker database, tracking movements of staff, will be considered separately at a meeting of education ministers in August. Clare has admitted progress has been too slow; there are questions about why abhorrent childcare abuse uncovered in 2022 didn't already lead to wider system changes.
But let's park that for now, and focus on what Clare and Walsh will put forward this fortnight.
While the Coalition opposition has pledged to be constructive and are likely to support the government, acknowledging the need for swift action, some Liberals don't believe the government's plan goes to the core of child safety issues. Shadow assistant minister Zoe McKenzie warned it 'may not go far enough' – with many pertinent powers resting with the states, the Coalition will urge Labor to show more 'national leadership' and prod the states into swifter action.
The states are moving on their own. Victoria announced its own childcare worker registration system, and will require childcare centres to adopt the federal ban on personal devices or face a $50k fine.
Dent said it went beyond parents and families, going to a broader economic imperative; with more families than ever needing two incomes to stay afloat, giving confidence about kids' safety while parents work is critical to keeping food on the table, she said.
Sign up to Breaking News Australia
Get the most important news as it breaks
after newsletter promotion
'This sector has grown out of necessity … but the regulation and oversight has not kept pace. Education access, workforce capacity, it's all under strain,' she said.
'Child safety is not being guaranteed across the board to the extent parents and children expect.'
Providers say they're eager to make their centres safer, but with some announcing the roll out of CCTV cameras in early learning and more choices for parents over the care of their children. Some say the money could be better spent, instead suggesting training more educators to ensure children aren't left alone with just one teacher. Concern has also been raised about the misuse of captured footage.
Ten months ago, a Productivity Commission report setting out a pathway to universal childcare recommended an independent commission to take a 'comprehensive national view'. The PC noted 'limited transparency and accountability – both from governments and service providers'.
Dent and The Parenthood have long called for such a model, as have the largest childcare providers, saying a major national body was critical to tie together safety, training, regulation and monitoring. Clare has said the government has 'an open mind' about such a body to look at safety issues.
Other major providers have praised federal pay rises for educators, and free Tafe for educators, as gamechangers – but raised concern about completion rates and the quality of some vocational courses. More must be done to attract good people and keep them in the industry.
G8 Education, one of Australia's largest providers, welcomed changes to improve safety – but a spokesperson said 'harmonising policies, regulations, systems and processes' across different levels of government was urgently needed. They also backed a national registry of staff working with vulnerable people as well as a national registration scheme for teachers.
Parents want assurance that their kids will be safe, but Australia's cross-jurisdictional system means it's not an easy fix. Clare's job will not be easy.
'We need to be reassuring parents the vast majority of services are good and there for the right reasons, most are really well qualified,' Dent said.
'The challenge is restoring confidence where it's warranted and raising alarm where it's needed.'
'Parents are distressed.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Is my child safe?': Jason Clare faces a quagmire in childcare crisis — fixing a sector without controlling all the levers
More than 1300 worried parents nationwide joined a webinar on safety in early education this week from families advocacy network The Parenthood, tuning in after weeks of sickening reports of alleged abuse at childcare centres. Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, said the allegations from Victoria had panicked families countrywide. 'I haven't seen parents' trust in safety rattled in the way it is now,' she told Guardian Australia. 'It's not just parents in Melbourne or Victoria being fearful of early childhood education – many are engaging for the first time, asking 'is my child safe?'' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email It's the quagmire facing education minister Jason Clare and early childhood minister Jess Walsh as parliament returns on Tuesday for the first time since the election. While this week was meant to be a victory lap for the government – highlighting Labor's thumping 94-seat caucus, capped by giving a parade to their Hecs debt reduction bill – the minister now finds himself facing urgent demands to safeguard a system where he doesn't control all the levers, with critical safety functions shared across eight state and territory systems. Labor has put early education at the centre of its agenda following prime minister Anthony Albanese singling out universal childcare as his 'legacy' during the election campaign – by giving pay rises to educators, offering childcare in its free Tafe program, and widening access to subsidies. But providers say they need more to keep kids safe. One major Australian childcare provider said they needed Canberra to do more on safety training and lead the states into establishing nationally consistent rules on reporting systems and stripping working-with-children accreditation, which can vary by jurisdiction. 'States don't talk to each other,' one executive said. More training, including pupil-free days each year for training – like primary and high schools – has been mooted. 'Quality and safety are inextricably linked. Better qualified and experienced teachers translate to improved risk,' Dent said, calling better training for workers 'the most significant piece' in keeping kids safer. Clare will introduce a bill this fortnight empowering the commonwealth to terminate federal subsidies to childcare operators guilty of egregious safety breaches, ban providers failing minimum standards, boost unannounced spot-checks and issue public notices to underperforming centres. A separate push for a national worker database, tracking movements of staff, will be considered separately at a meeting of education ministers in August. Clare has admitted progress has been too slow; there are questions about why abhorrent childcare abuse uncovered in 2022 didn't already lead to wider system changes. But let's park that for now, and focus on what Clare and Walsh will put forward this fortnight. While the Coalition opposition has pledged to be constructive and are likely to support the government, acknowledging the need for swift action, some Liberals don't believe the government's plan goes to the core of child safety issues. Shadow assistant minister Zoe McKenzie warned it 'may not go far enough' – with many pertinent powers resting with the states, the Coalition will urge Labor to show more 'national leadership' and prod the states into swifter action. The states are moving on their own. Victoria announced its own childcare worker registration system, and will require childcare centres to adopt the federal ban on personal devices or face a $50k fine. Dent said it went beyond parents and families, going to a broader economic imperative; with more families than ever needing two incomes to stay afloat, giving confidence about kids' safety while parents work is critical to keeping food on the table, she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'This sector has grown out of necessity … but the regulation and oversight has not kept pace. Education access, workforce capacity, it's all under strain,' she said. 'Child safety is not being guaranteed across the board to the extent parents and children expect.' Providers say they're eager to make their centres safer, but with some announcing the roll out of CCTV cameras in early learning and more choices for parents over the care of their children. Some say the money could be better spent, instead suggesting training more educators to ensure children aren't left alone with just one teacher. Concern has also been raised about the misuse of captured footage. Ten months ago, a Productivity Commission report setting out a pathway to universal childcare recommended an independent commission to take a 'comprehensive national view'. The PC noted 'limited transparency and accountability – both from governments and service providers'. Dent and The Parenthood have long called for such a model, as have the largest childcare providers, saying a major national body was critical to tie together safety, training, regulation and monitoring. Clare has said the government has 'an open mind' about such a body to look at safety issues. Other major providers have praised federal pay rises for educators, and free Tafe for educators, as gamechangers – but raised concern about completion rates and the quality of some vocational courses. More must be done to attract good people and keep them in the industry. G8 Education, one of Australia's largest providers, welcomed changes to improve safety – but a spokesperson said 'harmonising policies, regulations, systems and processes' across different levels of government was urgently needed. They also backed a national registry of staff working with vulnerable people as well as a national registration scheme for teachers. Parents want assurance that their kids will be safe, but Australia's cross-jurisdictional system means it's not an easy fix. Clare's job will not be easy. 'We need to be reassuring parents the vast majority of services are good and there for the right reasons, most are really well qualified,' Dent said. 'The challenge is restoring confidence where it's warranted and raising alarm where it's needed.' 'Parents are distressed.'
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
The Nationals' net zero bomb threatens to fracture the Liberals' decades-old alliance
A handful of moderate Liberal MPs decided that enough was enough. As the party debated whether to reunite the Coalition after a brief but damaging split with the Nationals in mid-May, the MPs drew a line in the sand. While the Nationals insisted on four demands for reunification – on nuclear power, supermarket break-up powers, regional communications and a $20bn infrastructure fund – for some Liberals, abandoning policies for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 would be a step too far. MPs who took part in a rush of party room debates in the tumultuous 48 hours point to the intervention of New South Wales moderate Dave Sharma, who insisted the Liberals could never be credible with mainstream voters if they abandoned such a fundamental element of climate policy. Others, including Zoe McKenzie, Maria Kovacic and Andrew Bragg, spoke privately and publicly in favour of holding firm. 'The view was we could not hide from serious climate policies and we could no longer be seen as accepting climate deniers,' one Liberal MP says, speaking anonymously about the closed-door talks. 'The Liberal party moved too far from its core values because we were dictated to by the Nationals. Peter Dutton let it happen and they're trying to do it again now on net zero.' But the agreement between the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, and his Liberal counterpart, Sussan Ley, to rejoin forces, cobbled together 48 hours after the split, did not settle the question of net zero – leaving it as one of the biggest questions facing the Coalition this term. In the final part of a series on the future of the Liberal party, Guardian Australia spoke with insiders about the latest conflict in the Coalition's climate wars, and how it threatens to permanently fracture the decades-old alliance. Opponents of net zero are not wasting any time. The Nationals have launched their own review, led by dogged climate critic Matt Canavan and the party strategist turned senator Ross Cadell. Outspoken former leader Barnaby Joyce has promised a private member's bill to end 'the lunatic crusade' of net zero when parliament returns this week. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email It was Joyce who initially signed the party up in the first place, negotiating with Scott Morrison's Liberals back in 2021 in exchange for an extra spot in cabinet. The Queensland Liberal-National MP Garth Hamilton calls net zero a 'blank cheque' for economic decline, while Andrew Hastie, considered a potential future Liberal leader, says he wants out of the 'straitjacket' plan. One close observer of the Nationals' dynamics says if a vote on net zero took place in Canberra this week, opposition to the policy would be locked in 13 votes to six. That result would be a mirror image of Canavan's leadership challenge to Littleproud in the days after the election, when he ran on an anti-net zero platform. Despite his two-to-one loss, Canavan claims the party's policy review as a win. He argues the Nationals were bullied into signing on five years ago on the basis that it had popular support in the polls. 'This would be the same polling that sent us shockingly astray in the recent election,' Canavan said in May. He did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Colleagues say Canavan shares anti-net zero content in a party chat on the messaging app Signal 'at all hours of the day and night'. There is widespread anger at the Nationals within senior ranks of the Coalition. Liberal MPs – reduced to a rump in metropolitan seats in part because Labor successfully tied them to Joyce and Canavan during successive campaigns – fear another round of the climate wars could kill the party. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is scathing, calling the Coalition 'hopelessly divided' over something the rest of the world agrees on. 'These Coalition parties, the Liberals and Nationals, learned absolutely nothing on 3 May,' he says. In her first press conference as opposition leader, Ley was asked if she was abandoning her support for net zero. A former environment minister, she has previously talked up the economic opportunities of net zero and insisted she wanted to get there 'as quickly as possible'. As leader, she said the Coalition was committed to the renewables transition but stopped short of endorsing net zero, again. 'No policies have been adopted or walked away from at this time,' Ley said. After a historic thumping at the election, few in the Coalition were in good spirits as they trudged back to Canberra to start another term in opposition. After days of threats about breaking up the Coalition, the Nationals, led in part by the Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, pushed over the precipice. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Bad blood lingered from the high-profile defection of the Country Liberal Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the Nationals to the Liberal party room, part of a plan for her to run for the deputy leadership under Angus Taylor. Senior Nationals always expected Price to one day switch to the Liberals and seek a lower house seat in pursuit of her ambition to eventually become prime minister. But the timing and the nature of the political betrayal incensed her former Nationals colleagues, sending them into what one Liberal describes as an 'emotional rage'. Senior Nationals were given roughly an hour's notice before Price issued a statement on the afternoon of 8 May confirming the move to her 'natural home', the Liberal party. Coalition colleagues quickly ascertained the plot had been in the works for weeks, engineered in part by the former prime minister Tony Abbott. Guardian Australia has been told the failed play damaged friendships between Price and McKenzie, who serve in the upper house together, as well as between McKenzie and frontbencher James Paterson. The Nationals have just four senators in the new parliament. Price is a favourite with the section of the Coalition closely tied to Sky News After Dark commentators on News Corp's network. Her high-profile role during the voice to parliament referendum and her no-apologies brand of rightwing politics lights up the Sky audience. One Nationals member says the network's hosts road test attack lines like a political party, sticking with two or three key messages that resonate with their loyal audience. But after two losses to Labor and the messy years of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, some within the Coalition believe Sky is a habit Liberals and Nationals need to kick. Internally, it is viewed as an outlet to speak to other members of parliament and to practise speaking on broadcast TV. Former Abbott strategist Peta Credlin, the network's marquee presenter, has campaigned against net zero and urged the Coalition to move further to the right following one of its worst-ever election defeats. 'The venn diagram of Sky viewers and Nationals opposing net zero is a circle. It is the same people,' a Nationals insider says. The Nationals will thrash out their position on net zero in a meeting of MPs set for the middle of next month. Ley has ordered two reviews for the Liberals – one on the election loss and the other into the party's future, including branch structures and membership base. The election postmortem, led by party elders Pru Goward and Nick Minchin, could speak to the net zero problem, but two diametrically opposed policies from the Liberals and the Nationals will set up an inevitable clash before the next election. The former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, who insists on speaking to journalists on the record, says the Nationals' original support for net zero came during China's campaign of economic coercion against Australia and amid significant anxiety among exporters. European trade deals required net zero policies to be in place. 'The world is in a very different place now,' McCormack says. 'America has made its view clear, and other countries are following suit. Opposition to renewables infrastructure in regional communities is real and you can't come to Canberra and argue against the views of your electorate.' Labor is watching closely. As it pushes ahead with the transition to renewable energy and talks up Australia's commitment to the Paris climate agreement, there is political opportunity in the Coalition's dysfunction. An observer who lived through the first two decades of Australia's climate wars says Anthony Albanese could be the ultimate winner from any move to ditch net zero. 'If he's smart, Albanese might choose to leave Barnaby's private members sitting on the notice paper so it stirs fights between the Liberals and the Nats for six months. Then he could, at a time of maximum political convenience, bring it on for debate,' they say. 'Joyce has handed Albo the timer to a bomb planted inside the Coalition party room.'
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Labor's signature Hecs debt relief will be introduced to parliament this week. Here's what it means for you
When Anthony Albanese fronted the media in November to announce Labor would cut 20% of all student debt if he won government, he described the move as 'about opening the doors of opportunity – and widening them'. Almost nine months later, the key election promise will be among the first pieces of legislation the federal government introduces when parliament returns on Tuesday. Here's what you need to know about how it will work, who it will help, and what's missing. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email If the legislation passes, 20% of student debt will be wiped from the 3 million Australians with outstanding loans, equivalent to around $16bn according to the federal government. The minimum repayment threshold will also be raised from $54,000 to $67,000, which is expected to save the average debt holder about $680 a year, and reduce the amount low income earners have to pay. The measures are being sold as providing cost-of-living relief for young Australians, who hold the bulk of student debt. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, the education minister, Jason Clare, said the average Australian with a student debt would have about $5,500 shaved off their loans. For Australians on an average income of $70,000, he said the bill would reduce the minimum amount they were required to repay by about $1,300. 'It'll take a lot of weight off the shoulders of a lot of young Australians who are just out of uni … looking to move out of home or save up to get a mortgage,' Clare said. 'You don't start paying off your university degree until your degree starts to pay off for you.' Students have broadly welcomed the changes, while arguing they don't go far enough. The president of the National Union of Students, Ashlyn Horton, said cutting debt was a 'long overdue move' that indicated Canberra 'might finally be listening' to concern about the rising cost of degrees. But she said the bill 'doesn't come close to fixing the structural mess that got us here'. 'The core problem remains: students are still paying some of the highest fees in the Oecd under a system that punishes them for choosing the 'wrong' degree,' she said. 'That system has a name – the Job-Ready Graduates package (JRG) – and Labor has left it untouched.' The Coalition's widely canned JRG scheme drastically increased the prices of arts degrees, which cost $50,000 as of 2024, to incentive students into other courses. The Greens and the Coalition haven't confirmed whether they will support the Labor bill but sources have suggested it would be unlikely for them not to back it, given the demand for cost-of-living relief. On Sunday, the shadow education minister, Jonathon Duniam, indicated the Coalition wouldn't block the bill in parliament despite still holding some concerns. 'We're not really in the business of standing in the way of cost-of-living relief … [and] it is one of those things that Australians wanted, they voted for,' he said. 'We've expressed our concerns. Australians have had their say. We've got to move on.' While proving to be a popular policy among voters, the bill has been critiqued for not addressing the root of student debt – which is indexation and the rising cost of degrees. Analysis conducted by the parliamentary library for the Greens and provided exclusively to Guardian Australia shows the 20% cut will be reduced to just 8% since Labor entered office when accounting for indexation since the 2022 election. That's despite the federal government's changes to indexation by tying Hecs/Help debts to whatever is lesser out of the wage price index (WPI) or consumer price index (CPI). For instance, a student debt balance of $30,000 in 2022 would have had their debts rise to $33,454 before the student debt reduction as a result of indexation. Following the 20% cut, their debt would drop to $26,763, and with 2025 indexation, rise to $27,619 – just 7.9% less than in 2022. The modelling assumes no repayments had been made. The Greens' deputy leader and spokesperson on higher education, Mehreen Faruqi, said 'Labor crowing about a small one-off debt reduction won't fix the enormous burden of uni fees or student debt that keeps growing every year'. 'Of course any student debt relief is better than none, but we are demanding all student debt be wiped and a return to free uni and Tafe, funded by taxing big corporations,' she said. Clare has flagged that more will be done in Labor's second term to reform the higher education sector, but it may not happen fast. This year, the federal government is planning to introduce legislation to improve the integrity of the international education system, and to permanently establish a new Australian tertiary education commission. The independent body was a recommendation of the Universities Accord, handed down early last year. A priority of the commission will be reforming the pricing of degrees, including introducing needs-based-funding into higher education, as is being rolled out at primary and secondary schools. On Wednesday, Clare confirmed that part of its work on funding would be assessing the JRG package, without a timeframe for reform.
