Latest news with #JessWalsh
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Victorian childcare regulator 'monitoring' provider at centre of NSW allegations
Victoria's minister for children says the state's childcare regulator is "actively monitoring" provider Affinity Education after allegations against it, including a child being hit by a staff member, were aired in NSW parliament. Appearing at a Victorian parliamentary hearing on Tuesday night, Lizzie Blandthorn told a parliamentary enquiry that she and other state ministers wanted to talk to the new federal minister responsible for early childhood education, Jess Walsh, about whether the current national regulatory system needs overhauling. Ms Blandthorn told the hearing it would be "inappropriate" to comment on current investigations. "Victoria's regulatory authority and other regulatory authorities are actively monitoring … Affinity education services and investigating incidents in services and will take action where required," she said. Affinity is one of Australia's biggest for-profit childcare chains with 250 centres across the country and 52 in Victoria. It operates under the brands including Papilio, Milestones and Kids Academy. Last month, a 7.30 investigation gained access to regulatory documents tabled in NSW parliament that revealed allegations by the state's childcare regulator that Affinity educators obstructed an investigation into a staff member who repeatedly slapped a baby. Other allegations against Affinity contained in the documents included serving expired food, hygiene breaches, a staff member using a child to mop up vomit and incidents of children being dragged around by their arms. More than 1,700 regulatory breaches were recorded against Affinity between 2021 and 2024, an average of more than one a day. The allegations tabled in NSW state parliament relate only to that state. In a statement to the ABC, Affinity chief executive Tim Hickey apologised to parents and said the company had a "zero-tolerance approach to any form of child harm and will dismiss employees found to be in breach of this safeguard, as well as engage with external agencies up to and including police where required". "We will strengthen the trust families have in us by continuing to act with integrity and our ongoing investment in the quality of our centres and people, at the same time as continuing to work closely with regulators to improve standards," he said. During the Victorian parliamentary hearing on Tuesday night, Greens MP Aiv Puglielli asked Ms Blandthorn about another troubled for-profit childcare group, Genius, which has seven centres in Victoria. Genius is currently in administration and the fate of its centres up in the air after failing to pay its financier, Gold Coast-based Finexia. "Given widespread complaints that staff were not getting paid, there was legal [action] from creditors due to millions of dollars, why was Genius and its owner Mr Darren Misquitta allowed to keep trading?" Mr Puglielli asked. Ms Blandthorn said that the state had "a role in regulation at some level but obviously insolvency and employment matters are in the Commonwealth jurisdiction". "Failure to pay wages or [rent] are not in themselves though offences under the national law, which we as a regulator have responsibility for," she said. "I would say though that our government is keen to continue to work with the Commonwealth and the states and territories to look at the adequacy of national law and regulations when it comes to that. "And just last week I had a conversation with the new federal minister and I also pointed out to her that it was a matter that a number of us want to have a conversation with her about at our upcoming education minister's meeting as well." The acting secretary of the Education Department, Tony Bates, said that the department lacked "powers to do broad-ranging financial searches". "The person did meet the requirements at the time of getting the initial approval as a provider," he said. "It's a very complex situation where there are company structures operating across multiple states. "I can say the Victorian regulator is working closely with interstate regulators to try and get a unified picture."
Sky News AU
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Labor defeats One Nation for Victoria's final senate seat, bringing Labor-Greens senate majority one step closer
Labor and the Greens have won four of the six Victorian Senate seats up for grabs at the May election. The Australian Electoral Commission conducted the full preference distribution of Victorian Senate results on Wednesday, which resulted in the election of three Labor, two Liberal, and one Greens Senators. Sitting Labor senators Raf Ciccone and Jess Walsh were both re-elected in the count, along with senior Liberals James Paterson and Jane Hume, and Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May, who was appointed during a casual vacancy last year following the resignation of Janet Rice. They will now be joined by Labor's Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who ran for the Senate after her seat of Higgins was abolished in a redistribution last year. Labor was sitting on 2.42 Senate quotas in its own right prior to the distribution of preferences, while the Coalition was reduced to just 2.19 quotas. The Greens did not achieve a quota in their own right, but at 0.87 they were comfortably able to regain their senate seat on preferences. One Nation and Legalise Cannabis Australia achieved 0.31 and 0.25 quotas, respectively. The Victorian senator result brings Australia one step closer to a Labor-Greens majority in the Senate, which would allow the Albanese government to pass legislation without the support the Coalition or any other crossbench senators. Labor currently looks likely to win three spots in both Western Australia and NSW, which would leave them with 28 Senate seats, with the Greens likely to win 11. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts is in pole position to take the final spot in Queensland. The AEC has already distributed preferences for South Australia - which also resulted in three Labor, two Liberal and one Greens - as well as Tasmania, where the major parties each won two seats and the Greens and Jacqui Lambie took out the other two. Country Liberal Senator Jacinta Price and Labor's Malarndirri McCarthy have both been returned as senators for the Northern Territory, while ACT senators David Pocock and Katy Gallagher are almost certain to retain their senate spots.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Albanese government will shut down sub-standard childcare operators, minister vows
Labor's new childcare minister says she will drive shonky and dangerous operators out of the multi-billion dollar industry, warning providers that place profit above safety will be shut down. In her first major interview since joining the frontbench, Victorian senator Jess Walsh told Guardian Australia the federal government was slowly moving towards a universal childcare system in Australia, something prime minister Anthony Albanese wants as part of his 'legacy'. Childcare has been beset by safety and standards failures, including serious and violent incidents at centres, recently investigated by the ABC. 'Those images and stories are really hard to watch and hard to read about, and it is a top priority for the commonwealth and the states and the quality authority to work together, shoulder to shoulder,' Walsh said. Walsh said she was working with states and territories to enforce safety standards, and that reforms like restricting mobile phone use by early childhood educators, which were put in place last year, was one 'lever' being used to improve safety in the sector. 'We will use new commonwealth levers to target those operators that put profit above child safety… They should not be operating in the sector,' she said. 'And we will make sure that commonwealth funding does not support their expansion and that we're able to restrict their access to the childcare subsidy, because commonwealth shouldn't be subsidising those operators that have no place in the sector.' The productivity commission and advocates have called for a national commission to advise and monitor progress towards universal early education, and better coordinate responsibility between states, territories and the commonwealth. Walsh would not commit to that and said quality in the sector had increased overall. Carolyn Croser-Barlow, chief executive of early childhood thinktank The Front Project, said it 'isn't enough' to work with the states, territories and regulator to stop the safety scandals. 'We all agree that there needs to be more than just working together. A [national] commission would be a good way of formalising who is responsible for what and make sure that we're sharing information between different levels of government,' she said. Croser-Barlow, a former senior public servant who assisted former prime minister Julia Gillard in the South Australian royal commission into early childhood education, said the commonwealth – until recently – had been solely focused on bringing down costs for families, and providing incentives for providers to expand their services, while the states and territories have been charged with enforcing compliance in the sector. She said Walsh had a 'great opportunity' to reset the division of responsibilities with states and territories. 'The commonwealth, until recently, hasn't really been looking at whether or not people opening new services have a great track record of quality, and it's great to hear they are thinking about starting to look at that now. Similarly, regulators have really struggled to keep pace with the growth in the sector in South Australia.' Along with a commission, Croser-Barlow said a formal 'vision' for universal childcare would provide a better framework for all levels of government. A draft vision was published by the national cabinet in March 2023, with a promise to consult with stakeholders before publishing a final version, but that work has not been finished. Croser-Barlow says that work is also at the centre of improving and ensuring safety and quality standards are met. 'At the moment there is no division of responsibilities between the states and the territories and commonwealth where someone is responsible for delivering a market that is consistently high quality and safe,' she said. 'The fact that that [vision] hasn't been agreed to shows how difficult it is to agree who is responsible for what and how much easier it is to not have that, because when things are wrong you're in a position to be able to say, well that's the other side's problem and we've seen a bit of that [recently].' In February, Labor passed legislation for a three day childcare guarantee, in effect, removing the activity test which had been a barrier for families. It followed a promise for 15% pay rises for childcare educators, the final 5% increase is due to come into effect in December. Walsh said those are steps towards a universal system. 'We know that the prime minister has a vision of universal early education … They're some of the pillars towards building that universal early education system,' she said. Walsh surprised some within Labor ranks, ascending to the ministry this term, straight from the backbench. A member of the Victorian left faction, Walsh was secretary of the United Voice union from 2007 to 2019 when she joined the Senate. The union, which has become the United Workers Union, has members in the childcare, hospitality, cleaning, health and aged care and manufacturing sectors.
News.com.au
12-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Anthony Albanese unveils new cabinet after factional fighting
Anthony Albanese has revealed the ministry for his government's second term, elevating backbenchers and moving an assistant minister into cabinet. Tim Ayres, who served as assistant minister for trade in the Albanese government's first term, was promoted to industry and science minister. But backbenchers Daniel Mulino, Jess Walsh and Sam Rae were the big winners. Mr Mulino was picked for assistant treasurer, succeeding retired MP Stephen Jones. The Italian-born Melbourne MP holds a PhD in economics from Yale University and was elected in 2019. Senator Walsh was given minister for early childhood education and youth, while Sam Rae was handed minister for aged care and seniors. The Prime Minister kept his most senior cabinet ministers in their roles, with Richard Marles continuing as defence minister, Penny Wong as foreign minister and Don Farrell as trade minister. The new ministry will be sworn in on Tuesday. The new picks came after fierce factional fighting booted Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus from their portfolios.
