Federal funding at risk for childcare centres that do not meet safety standards

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Federal government is promising to fast track reforms to childcare - in response to allegations of abuse in the sector.  It comes after Victorian childcare worker Joshua Dale brown was charged with more than 70 offences

Transcript

00:00This is likely to be among the first pieces of legislation that the government introduces

00:08when the new parliament sits for the first time in the first sitting period toward the

00:14end of this month.

00:15Now, we know some details about what that legislation will include.

00:20It will include something the government had spoken about even before the election and

00:24that is the power to strip federal funding from childcare centres which are not meeting

00:31the safety standards set for them.

00:34Now, we don't have a lot of detail about exactly how that will work, what the threshold will

00:39be for a centre to have its funding removed, but the Minister, Jason Clare, has indicated

00:44it probably wouldn't happen after just one breach, but potentially after subsequent breaches.

00:51We've also learnt some more detail today about plans to beef up some of the compliance and

00:58enforcement measures the government has available to it.

01:02Jason Clare has said that there will be the provision for spot checks, unannounced spot checks

01:11of authorised officers to visit childcare centres.

01:15They won't need a warrant, which is the current situation they need, and now that initially

01:22will be focused on fraud, but it could have the potential to identify other breaches in

01:28childcare centres.

01:29Now, Jason Clare spoke to 7.30 last night and also indicated he believed the penalties that

01:36exist currently for breaches of standards in childcare centres are insufficient.

01:42Here was some of what he had to say.

01:46I think any right-minded person, when they find out that a maximum penalty under the existing

01:50law for an individual is about $9,000 for a centre, or a provider is about $45,000, would

01:55say, well, that's probably not enough to make sure that people are doing what they should

02:00be doing.

02:01Now, for its part, the opposition has indicated it is likely to support the government's measures.

02:09It obviously doesn't have all of the details to make a final decision, but the National

02:14Senator, Bridget McKenzie, has today said the opposition will support measures that are successful

02:22in improving safety in childcare centres.

02:25So, not likely to be a particularly contentious piece of legislation when it is presented later

02:30this month.

02:31So, Jason Clare has admitted falling short on safety in childcare.

02:36Patrick, what's he said?

02:38Well, Jason Clare has said in that same interview that he and his state and territory counterparts

02:44have been slow to act on quality issues, and he referred not only to the allegations coming

02:51out of Victoria, but also the detail contained in the Four Corners investigation in recent

02:58months, which went quite a bit further just beyond abuse, but also to other issues as well.

03:06And so, that is something that he is trying to pivot on.

03:10And the political context here is that childcare has become one of the issues Labor has identified

03:18as a legacy-defining issue for this period it has in government, and there's been a lot

03:23of focus on improving access to childcare and affordability, but clearly quality and safety

03:30needs to be a focus as well, particularly after some of these recent developments.

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