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The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Giving us the powers': Labor reforms to strip childcare centres of funding after one safety breach ‘strike'
More safety training for childcare workers, CCTV in centres and changes to working with children checks will be on the agenda for federal and state authorities, as governments scramble to respond to shocking allegations of abuse in early education centre. Under new federal legislation unveiled on Wednesday, childcare centres could lose federal funding from just one safety breach 'strike'. But education minister Jason Clare was unable to put a timeline on when a long-awaited national database of childcare workers could be set up, saying it would require joining up state and territory databases. The Albanese government on Wednesday introduced an early childhood safety bill into parliament, which would give federal regulators power to punish childcare providers failing to meet standards and strengthen their ability to conduct unannounced service visits and spot checks. 'This is not about shutting centres down. It's about lifting standards up and giving us the powers to make that happen,' Clare told a press conference in Parliament House. The legislation gives the secretary of the education department new powers to refuse an application, or suspend or cancel an approval, for a provider to access the child care subsidy, if that centre is deemed to be failing quality and safety standards. That decision can also be publicised. Early education minister Jess Walsh called it a 'stick' to encourage higher standards. 'This will signal to providers the importance of safety and quality and that additional services will not be approved for a provider with a poor track record in these areas,' states the bill's explanatory memorandum. 'This means that providers or services who do not provide high quality and safe care are at risk of losing their approval to administer CCS, or may face other compliance actions.' Additionally, childcare regulators will be empowered to launch unannounced visits to centres to investigate safety issues. Current legislation allows such spot checks to probe financial fraud issues, but the new legislation expands that power to focus on safety compliance 'without consent' of the operator, following written authorisation of the education secretary. 'It could be as simple as one [strike],' Clare told the ABC, when asked about the threshold for cutting funding. 'It is important to make a point that regulators can shut a centre right now if they think there is a serious threat to children's safety but this will give us the power to issue a … notice to a centre and say we will shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard, or to set conditions on them as well.' The bill is expected to sail through parliament, with the Coalition opposition and the Greens to not stand in its way. However both parties are concerned the bill doesn't go far enough in addressing safety concerns in childcare, saying the government needs to move quicker in corralling state and territory governments to set up a national database of workers and improve training among educators. Opposition leader Sussan Ley said she would be 'constructive' but said the bill should not 'be rammed through the Parliament' so it could be examined closely. 'I'm incredibly concerned. So I do want to be constructive, but that being constructive doesn't mean giving the government a blank cheque when it comes to goodwill on this issue, we have to make sure that the legislation works,' she told the ABC. Calls from childcare providers and safety experts for a national database of workers will be discussed next month at a meeting of state and territory education ministers, while attorneys-general will discuss potential updates to the working with children check system. The federal government cannot unilaterally make either change, with powers and data held by the states, but Clare said all levels of government were keen to keep the system safer. Asked about CCTV, extra training for workers and the database, Clare said all those ideas would be 'on the table'. 'I think the revelations in Victoria over the course of the last few weeks tell us exactly why ]the national database] is so important,' he said. 'CCTV and the role that it can potentially play, in deterring a bad person from doing heinous things, and also helping police with their investigations, but also the sort of training, mandatory child safety training that already exists in the courses, but doesn't exist in the classroom.' But asked for a timeline on setting up such changes, Clare repeatedly declined to say how long it could take, only hoping it would happen 'as quickly as possible.' 'The truth is, this should have happened yesterday, and this can't happen fast enough, and states are already taking steps to expand their existing teacher registers,' he said.
Irish Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Domestic violence disclosure scheme could expose victims to ‘unacceptable' risk, department finds
A new domestic violence disclosure scheme could expose women and girls to an 'unacceptable' risk of further abuse, according to an internal Department of Justice analysis. Officials found that abusers would have to be 'informed in advance' that information about them was being shared under their constitutional right to privacy and fair procedures, a legal obligation that could not be 'sidestepped'. This prompted fears that offering such an alert to perpetrators could 'trigger' abuse and violence. The documents, which were released under Freedom of Information, were compiled by officials in the department in 2023 when the proposal for Jennie's Law was first being considered. READ MORE The campaign for Jennie's Law is named after Jennifer Poole, a 24-year-old mother of two who was murdered by her former partner Gavin Murphy in 2021. Ms Poole did not know that Murphy had a history of abusive behaviour, including a conviction for assaulting a former partner. Her family, who have led a campaign for a domestic violence register in her honour, maintain that had she known about Murphy's history she might still be alive. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan has committed to setting up such a domestic violence register, which will be named Jennie's Law. The proposal was first considered by officials following a number of meetings between previous ministers for justice Simon Harris and Helen McEntee and Jason Poole, Ms Poole's brother. In February 2023, Mr Harris met Mr Poole and committed to progressing plans for a domestic violence disclosure scheme. Officials advised Ms McEntee, who met Mr Poole during her tenure as minister for justice, to say she had had 'the benefit of analysis done by officials in my department and other colleagues, including An Garda Síochána ' on the proposal to bring forward Jennie's Law. A briefing note prepared for Ms McEntee ahead of a meeting with Mr Poole in July 2023 raised 'significant legal and constitutional issues' with plans to disclose information about offenders to the public. It warned that offenders had a constitutional right to privacy. 'It follows that an ex-offender would need to be informed in advance about any proposal to disclose information about him or her under a domestic violence disclosure scheme. Failure to do so would infringe his or her legal and constitutional rights,' the briefing note said. 'Legally, the obligation to inform an ex-offender about a proposed disclosure cannot be sidestepped. However, notice of an intention to disclose information could trigger or increase violence in abusive relationships. As such, legislating for a domestic violence disclosure scheme could create an unacceptable risk to the women and girls the scheme intends to protect.' Another briefing note prepared for Ms McEntee ahead of a meeting with Mr Poole in December 2023 said that her department 'cannot develop proposals for legislation that is unconstitutional and potentially dangerous'. Instead of a public disclosure scheme, the 2025 programme for government instead committed to giving An Garda Síochána the power to inform vulnerable people of a partner's history of domestic violence. But Mr O'Callaghan has since gone further and said he was still committed to setting up a public domestic violence register. The Department of Justice did not comment.
News.com.au
07-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘You could have saved children': Sunrise host slams politicians over childcare
Sunrise host Natalie Bar has slammed political leaders for failing to act faster on childcare safety, confronting Liberal leader Sussan Ley with a devastating question. In the wake of shocking allegations of child sex abuse in childcare centres, political leaders have admitted that reforms to boost safety haven't been enacted fast enough. The 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made 409 recommendations to improve child safety and responses to child sexual abuse, including in childcare settings. These recommendations covered areas like record keeping, mandatory reporting and the need for accurate records related to child safety and wellbeing, and for institutions to retain these records for at least 45 years. In the wake of the latest allegations the Victorian government also unveiled its own reforms, which include a register of childcare workers and educators, a ban on personal mobile phones in centres and mandatory CCTV. But as Liberal leader Sussan Ley offered her bipartisan support to the Albanese government to fast track new reforms, Barr grilled her on why successive governments had failed to act, including when Ms Ley was a cabinet minister. 'You had a chance to save children. What did you do?' Barr asked on Monday morning's program. She noted that the 2017 Royal Commission made specific recommendations to improve safety including some that still had not been fully implemented. 'It's not about the blame game,' she said. 'But in 2017, the government you were in was handed a report. It took five years to do. There were 8000 sessions. It cost this country, these taxpayers nearly $400 million. The recommendations were [for] a national working with children scheme, a national office, there was a register of childcare workers, then for five years the government did what?' In response, Ms Ley said what the government did was 'progress those reforms with the states'. 'So you are blaming the states?' Barr said. But Ms Ley insisted she was not trying to avoid responsibility. 'I'm not blaming the states,' she said. 'The recommendations took a couple of years to come down. We started the work. Labor came in and picked it up. I am recognising governments own a lot of this. For example, the Victorian state government has, if I can describe them as weaker working with children checks than any other states.' Australia's worst pedophile When Queensland childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing 73 young girls in Brisbane, an interim report warned how the current system 'may result in a false sense of security'. The man dubbed perhaps Australia's worst pedophile had 'met all requirements to obtain and maintain a Blue Card' — the state's working with children check system — until his arrest on 1623 charges of child abuse. 'The Blue Card system is not designed to collect information on early indicators of harm or to identify patterns over time and across organisations, particularly where complaints about a person have been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated due to a lack of evidence,' the report said. The implementation of a reportable conduct scheme in Queensland will commence in 2026 and it is hoped will improve the collation and sharing of this type of information. This month, another childcare worker, Joshua Dale Brown, was accused of sexually abusing children in Victoria by police. The childcare worker has been charged but is yet to face trial. The 26-year-old is accused of abusing eight young children between April 2022 and January 2023 and his work at 20 centres across Victoria has sparked the testing of more than 1200 children for sexually transmitted infections out of 'an abundance of caution'.
Globe and Mail
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Ottawa pressed to split online harms bill to fast-track its passage
Child-safety advocates and technology experts are urging the federal government to swiftly bring back the online harms bill, but to split it in two to speed passage of measures that protect children from abuse. Bill C-63, which died when the last Parliament was prorogued in January, included initiatives to combat online child abuse and hate. But it faced sharp criticism from opposition MPs and civil liberty advocates for also proposing new criminal offences for hate propaganda and hate crimes – including life in prison for inciting genocide. Advocacy group OpenMedia says hundreds of messages have been sent to MPs since the election calling for the government to reintroduce the online harms bill. They want it to focus on measures to improve online safety for children and youth, and to create an independent regulator to tackle predatory behaviour, bullying and abuse online, while protecting online privacy or expression. The bill drew criticism from civil liberties groups for proposing a 'peace bond' to deter people feared to be planning to carry out hate crimes and hate propaganda offences, with penalties such as house arrest. Government ministers have indicated they plan to bring back the online harms bill but have not yet confirmed who would be shepherding it through Parliament. Will Carney's to-do list be hindered by parliamentary tactics? How the next government can protect Canada's information ecosystem Earlier this month, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said he expected it would be steered through by Canadian Identity Minister Steven Guilbeault. Among those calling for a swift reintroduction of the bill is Carol Todd, the mother of Amanda Todd, a teenager who died by suicide after falling victim to cyberbullying. She warned that Canada is lagging far behind countries such as the U.S. and Britain, which have already passed laws to protect people in the digital sphere. Ms. Todd said the government should take feedback it received on Bill C-63 before the election, including criticism of increased penalties for hate crimes, and put the Criminal Code measures on a separate track. 'They need to do two bills. If they put the same bill through, the same things will happen again and it will get held up,' she said. Bill C-63 would have forced online platforms to swiftly remove child sexual abuse material, intimate content shared without consent, and posts encouraging a child to self-harm. It would have created a digital safety commission and ombudsperson to combat online hate. 'The previous government's attempt to combine a platform accountability bill with a criminal justice bill was unwise,' said John Matheson, who leads the Canadian arm of Reset Tech, a global non-profit that fights digital threats to democracy, 'The Carney government would miss the mark if they do not create a new public regulator to hold platforms accountable in keeping our kids safe,' he said. The advocacy group OpenMedia wants the government to bring back the bill soon after MPs return from their summer break. 'Canada's next Online Harms Act should be about addressing the worst online harms, and not package in broader measures that aren't about the consequences of digital technologies,' said Matt Hatfield, the group's executive director. He said the controversy over new criminal penalties for hate speech and hate crimes 'completely overshadowed discussion of part one, the real core of the Online Harms Act.' 'There's still critical amendments to make to part one's text to strike the right balance between safety and online privacy and expression, but these changes are at a scale a parliamentary committee given adequate time can accomplish.' Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said it 'would not be opposed to the approach of addressing Criminal Code and human rights amendments through its own bill or bills, and addressing online harms to children in its own bill.' 'It was clear in the last session that there was consensus amongst our elected officials that legislative action to protect children from online harms is urgently needed, so it seems more likely that a bill focused on the protection of children will be able to move forward,' she said. Charlotte Moore Hepburn, medical director of the division of pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, said 'a new bill – one that prioritizes online safety for children and youth – is essential.'
National Post
21-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Pope Leo XIV says there should be no tolerance for abuse of any kind in Catholic Church
LIMA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV has said there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse — sexual, spiritual or abuse of authority — and called for 'transparent processes' to create a culture of prevention across the church. Article content Leo made his first public comments about the clergy sex abuse scandal in a written message to a Peruvian journalist who documented a particularly egregious case of abuse and financial corruption in a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. Article content Article content Article content The message was read out loud on Friday night in Lima during a performance of a play based on the Sodalitium scandal and the work of the journalist, Paola Ugaz. Article content Article content 'It is urgent to root in the whole church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse – neither of power or authority, nor abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuse,' Leo said in the message. 'This culture will only be authentic if it is born of active vigilance, of transparent processes and sincere listening to those who have been hurt. For this, we need journalists.' Leo is well aware of the Sodalitium scandal, since he spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, where the group was founded in 1971. The then-Bishop Robert Prevost was responsible for listening to the Sodalitium's victims as the Peruvian bishops' point-person for abuse victims and helped some reach financial settlements with the organization. Article content After Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023, Prevost helped dismantle the group entirely by overseeing the resignation of a powerful Sodalitium bishop. The Sodalitium was officially suppressed earlier this year, right before Francis died. Article content Article content Now as pope, Leo has to oversee the dismantling of the Soldalitium and its sizeable assets. The Vatican envoy on the ground handling the job, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, read out Leo's message on Friday night, appearing alongside Ugaz on stage. Article content Article content In the message, Leo also praised journalists for their courage in holding the powerful to account, demanded public authorities protect them and said a free press is an 'common good that cannot be renounced.' Article content Ugaz and a Sodalitium victim, Pedro Salinas, have faced years of criminal and civil litigation from Sodalitium and its supporters for their investigative reporting into the group's twisted practices and financial misconduct, and they have praised Leo for his handling of the case. Article content The abuse scandal is one of the thorniest dossiers facing Leo, especially given demands from survivors that he go even farther than Francis in applying a zero-tolerance for abuse across the church, including for abusers whose victims were adults. Article content
