Victorian government releases damning review into childcare regulation, 22 recommendations accepted
A rapid review into the childcare and education sector was launched after several allegations of sexual assault were made public. (ABC News: Kyle Harley)
In short:
The Victorian government has released a damning review of regulation of the state's childcare sector.
The six-week review was commissioned after disturbing allegations of child sex abuse involving former childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown came to light in July.
What's next?
The government has committed to adopting 22 recommendations made in the report, including strengthening safety checks.
Victoria's childcare watchdogs are failing to keep kids safe due to poor information sharing, legal constraint, chronic underfunding and a system that places the privacy of educators and the pursuit of profits over child safety, a rapid review has found.
The review, commissioned after the revelation that more than 70 charges of child abuse had been laid against a former Melbourne childcare worker in July, calls for a shake-up of the sector's regulation with a new, independent early childhood watchdog.
Responding to the review, Premier Jacinta Allan apologised to the families of those harmed by abuse in Victorian childcare centres, and said the system was not working as intended.
"This sickens me as premier. It also sickens me as a mum," Ms Allan said.
Ms Allan said the government would accept all 22 recommendations made in the report.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says her government will adopt all recommendations. (AAP: Joel Carrett)
The government has committed to establishing a new independent early childhood regulator by the end of 2025.
Ms Allan said the new regulator would have "real teeth" and "more than double" the frequency of compliance checks at childcare providers to at least once a year.
The report, chaired by former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, also made recommendations to the Commonwealth government.
Working with Children Check to be strengthened
Under the plan, the Working with Children Check (WWCC) scheme will also be strengthened, requiring all applicants to complete child safety training.
The changes follow two ABC investigations that recently uncovered separate cases where male educators who were sacked by childcare operators and banned from the sector still had active WWCCs at the time of writing.
It will also be easier for a WWCC to be revoked or suspended, with the report finding the current threshold is too high.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said she would be legislate to give regulators immediate suspension powers as early as next week.
"At the moment, in some situations, a person is entitled to a period of 28 days in which to appeal a review of their Working with Children Check," Ms Kilkenny said.
Changes will make the Working with Children Check both harder to apply for, and easier to have revoked. (Supplied/Victorian government)
The report said Victoria's WWCC laws were the least flexible in the country — a finding similar to one made by the state's ombudsman in 2022, and one that may increase pressure on the Allan government to explain why it took so long to improve WWCC laws.
"Victoria's Working With Children Check laws are not fit-for-purpose and must be rebalanced in favour of child safety,"the report said.
The Australian Childrens Foundation welcomed the announcement of a WWCC overhaul.
"We need to take strong action to stop the WWCC from being a passport for perpetrators to it being a perimeter of protection for children and young people," chief executive Janise Mitchell said.
"We welcome these steps in our collective responsibilities to make sure that all of our children are safe and cared for."
A system prioritising profits over safety
The review found predators have been able to escape sanction in Victoria because some centres have placed profits and reputation above child safety.
"There are tensions in the system that lead some providers to prioritise other things, including profit in some instances," it said.
"The rapid expansion of the sector has created perverse incentives, shortcuts in education and training and that some for-profit providers may feel pressure to maximise value to shareholders."
The review said the issues were greater in the for-profit childcare sector, and called on the Commonwealth to lead a discussion about reconsidering the "current funding model and reliance on the market."
Dozens of abuse charges at Victorian childcare centres have triggered an overhaul of safety regulations in the sector. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)
While the review warned there was "no silver bullet", it said the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP), which receives all allegations of reportable conduct, needed to have restrictions on its work loosened.
The report said 'red flags' from unsubstantiated reports to the reportable conduct scheme were not being taken into consideration, with action stifled by poor information sharing between authorities.
"The review heard multiple times that the 'breadcrumbs' of information about a person — including information which does not meet the relatively high thresholds for substantiated conduct, but which is nevertheless still concerning — is rarely able to be seen and acted upon because no one can see the whole picture,'' it said.
Across the sector, the report urged laws to be re-balanced in favour of protecting children.
"Current legal frameworks are often interpreted as prioritising procedural fairness for employees, which can act as a brake on employers taking early or decisive action to protect children, for fear of industrial or legal challenges," it said.
More oversight urged
Reports to the CCYP have grown substantially in recent years, but its funding has not increased. The Commission warned that 85 per cent of child abuse and harm investigations received low or minimal oversight.
The government is now expected to increase funding to regulators.
In July, the Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said it was clear the system needed to be strengthened. (ABC News)
The recommendations also called for a new early learning national reform commission to be set up to lead a reset of Australia's early childhood sector. It has also called for tougher penalties for centres that have broken the law.
The report said providers needed to complete more rigorous recruitment practices, which would be assisted by a comprehensive national workers register.
The report also said staffing levels in centres needed to be reconsidered to ensure that 'four eyes' are always on children.
It recommended immediate action on the report's findings, including at a meeting of national education ministers on Friday.
Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn called for a national childcare workers register. (ABC News)
Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said the review had laid bare the weaknesses of Victoria's childcare system.
"With a market-driven model for early education and care, there are risks to safety," Ms Blandthorn said.
"Where there are vulnerable people and vulnerable systems, there is ultimately risk."
In July, announcing the rapid review, the premier also committed to implement a ban on personal devices in childcare centres and a state-based registration system to track employees and their employment history.
Ms Blandthorn said Victoria's childcare system had grown rapidly over the last decade and called for a national approach.
"The review recommends that should be a national system of registration," she said.
"That's important because we don't want predators to cross our borders."
Victorian opposition leader Brad Battin said the government should have acted weeks ago "when these shocking allegations came to light".
"You don’t need a review to tell you to do the right thing," he said.
"We urged the government to act immediately and we offered to work with them, now we have to wait for this Labor government to deliver on the review's findings."