Hansard debates

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (12:21): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I ask that my second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard.

Incorporated speech as follows:

The Early Childhood Legislation Amendment (Child Safety) Bill 2025 is a critical component of Australian governments’ overhaul of child safety regulation.

This Bill gives effect to the commitment of all Australian governments to implement recommendations of the Review of Child Safety Arrangements under the National Quality Framework (known as ‘the Child Safety Review’) in December 2023. The Bill also implements seven recommendations of the Rapid Child Safety Review commissioned by the Victorian Government in 2025.

I want to emphasise that the vast majority of educators in education and care services are skilled, hard-working, professional, and committed to protecting and caring for our youngest Victorians. Educators are our greatest asset in keeping children safe in services.

Unfortunately, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, several serious incidences of sexual assault and abuse of children in early childhood education and care settings came to light in several jurisdictions including Queensland, NSW and Victoria. These shocking allegations have highlighted the urgent need for further action by governments and the education and care sector to improve the safety and quality of education and care nationally.

The Bill amends the Education and Care Services National Law (National Law) in the Schedule to the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010. It also amends the Victorian application provisions in that Act to modify the National Law as it applies in Victoria, to further strengthen the regulatory regime that applies to Victorian education and care services and their providers.

The proposed amendments to the National Law are expected to be settled nationally by the Australasian Parliamentary Counsel’s Committee (APCC) in accordance with the APCC Protocol on Drafting National Uniform Legislation, and have been approved by EMM in accordance with the Ministerial Council’s function under section 220(1)(g) of the National Law.

Amendments to the National Law – for all participating jurisdictions in the National Quality Framework

The key features of the Bill include to amend the National Law as it applies in all states and territories to:

a. introduce a statutory duty that the safety, rights and best interests of children are to be the paramount consideration for approved providers, persons with management or control of the service, persons in day-to-day charge of a service, nominated supervisors, staff, students and volunteers;

b. mandate child protection training for all staff who work with children and child safety training for all persons who are involved in the provision of education and care services;

c. empower the Regulatory Authority to impose:

i. a (time limited) suspension notice on approved providers directing them to suspend a specific staff member from providing education and care to children at that approved provider;

ii. a supervision notice requiring an approved provider to ensure that a specific staff member is supervised in the provision of education and care;

iii. a mandatory training notice requiring an approved provider to ensure a specific staff member undertakes training to address certain conduct;

d. introduce a new offence which prohibits ‘inappropriate conduct’ while providing education and care to children;

e. expand the information sharing powers of the Regulatory Authority to proactively share information about individuals with their current approved provider, and gather and share information with recruitment agencies

f. increase the maximum penalties for offences under the National Law by a factor of 3;

g. expand the number of offences that are infringeable offences

h. introduce powers to deal with systemic non-compliance by related providers (including large provider groups);

i. expand the powers for authorised officers to check compliance and investigate offences in the residence and other areas beyond the FDC service premises

j. extend the time in which the Regulatory Authority may commence proceedings for offences under the National Law to 2 years from the date on which the Regulatory Authority becomes aware of the offence, and include a ‘stop the clock’ mechanism which suspends the two-year limit on commencing proceedings during periods in which a concurrent investigation or proceedings under another Act are taking place;

k. regulate the use of digital devices while taking images or videos of children while providing education and care.

l. establish the National Early Childhood Worker Register.

The expectations of all governments for all those in the sector – from those who control providers through to individual educators ‘on the floor’ with children – are clear. The Bill creates a new statutory duty for all decision makers in the ECEC system to make the safety, rights and best interests of children their paramount consideration when making decisions.

The Bill contains over 30 measures that aim to improve the safety and quality of the education and care provided to children attending services.

They will strengthen the powers of Regulatory Authorities to monitor and take action against non-compliance, and hold service providers, their staff and volunteers to account. The Bill will triple the maximum penalty amounts for offences against the National Law and provide the authority to create new infringement offences.

Importantly, the Bill will give Regulatory Authorities new powers to address the conduct of individuals who do the wrong thing, including better information sharing powers with an educator’s approved provider or labour hire agency.

There are also new powers to deal with non-compliance at a systemic level by ‘related providers’ (including large provider groups).

The Bill makes provision for the establishment of a National Educator Register which will give regulators better visibility of the education and care workforce, students on practicum placement and volunteers to strengthen accountability, planning, and professional recognition.

The Bill also improves information-sharing and information-gathering powers for Regulatory Authorities. This includes ensuring that Regulatory Authorities can share information about an educator’s prohibition with an approved provider where the educator is employed or with the educator’s recruitment agency, and power for a Regulatory Authority to obtain information about an educator from a recruitment agency.

The Bill also addresses critical operational requirements for services, to improve child safety practices and understanding.

For example, it establishes a new requirement for all involved in the sector – service providers, their staff and volunteers, whether or not they work with children – to undergo mandatory training in child safe practices. It also expands the existing requirement for training in the child protection requirements of their jurisdiction to all people who work with children.

There will also be new offences to ensure that images and videos of children are only taken on digital devices issued by the service, and that educators do not have a personal digital device with them while working with children. This puts in place mandatory requirements that reflect the voluntary National Model Code on taking images and videos of children in education and care that was put in place earlier this year. The new national offences back up the Victorian restrictions on personal digital devices in services set out in the Statement of Regulatory Expectations – National Model Code that commenced in September this year.

Further child safety measures that will apply in Victoria only

This government is committed to doing everything in its power to ensure the safety of children and restore the community’s trust in the early childhood education and care system, so the Bill goes further with additional reforms specifically for Victoria.

The Bill amends the Victorian application provisions in the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 to implement additional child safety measures that are specific to Victoria and align with changes recently passed in New south Wales. To achieve this, the Bill makes a number of modifications to the National Law, as it specifically applies in Victoria, to:

a. expand the power for the Regulatory Authority to issue a prohibition notice to include giving a notice to a person who was previously involved in providing an education and care service (regardless of whether the service had the proper approvals);

b. empower the Regulatory Authority to prohibit persons who have been refused provider approval or service approval in the past 12 months from reapplying for the approval;

c. expand the grounds for cancellation of provider approvals to include where an approved provider has been deregistered under the Corporations Act, is under administration or in liquidation or is an association that has been wound up or whose incorporation has been cancelled;

d. empower the Regulatory authority to take disciplinary action and bring disciplinary proceedings against an approved provider who has contravened the National Law or the national regulations, including against a person with management or control of the approved provider;

e. empower the Regulatory Authority to publish information about enforcement or disciplinary action taken under the National Law against certain persons involved in the provision of education and care;

f. introduce a new offence for a failure by an approved provider to display the approved provider’s quality and compliance history at an education and care service premises of a service operated by the provider;

g. empower the Magistrates Court to make an order requiring a person convicted of an offence to publicise the offence, and the circumstances and consequences of the offence;

h. empower the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to make an order requiring a person against whom disciplinary action has been taken for non-compliance to publicise the non-compliance, and the circumstances and consequences of the non-compliance;

i. require an approved provider to notify the Regulatory Authority of any sexual offences or sexual misconduct committed by staff, students or volunteers working at an education and care service operated by the approved provider within a prescribed timeframe.

j. expand the information sharing powers of the Regulatory Authority to enable proactive disclosure of any suspension directions, supervision directions and mandatory training directions given directly to an individual with approved providers and recruitment agencies;

k. increase the maximum penalties for large approved providers (providers which have 25 or more services) by a factor of 9;

l. Empower the Regulatory Authority to give a notice directing individuals working in education and care services to suspend providing education and care for a specified period;

m. clarify that an application for internal review of a decision by the Regulatory Authority does not affect the application, operation and validity of that decision;

n. expand the power of Regulatory Authority to better determine and control rating levels for education and care services, including to suspend a service’s quality rating during an investigation;

o. expand the number of offences under the National Law which are infringeable offences;

p. introduce a power to empower Victorian regulations to be made which modify the maximum penalty imposed for offences under the National Regulation which are infringeable offences;

q. introduce a new offence prohibiting an approved provider from entering into a contract of insurance which indemnifies the approved provider or any staff members from a financial penalty for non-compliance with the National Quality Framework or the Child Safe Standards;

r. introduce a power for the Regulatory Authority and the Minister for Children to issue binding directions and guidelines, including to prioritise the safety, welfare or wellbeing of children and set out best practice guidance for operating education and care services;

s. introduce a power for the Minister for Children to issue binding directions to the Regulatory Authority in relation to the exercise of its functions and powers under the National Law;

t. introduce a power for the Regulatory Authority to order the closure of services in a geographic area because of an emergency event;

u. introduce a power to make Victorian regulations for transitional or savings provisions (that are required as a consequence of the reforms proposed above and which may be retrospective in operation to the commencement of those measures to ensure operational continuity and proper functioning of those provisions), and to prescribe additional provisions necessary to give effect to the Victorian- specific measures.

Specifically, the Bill will further improve transparency of information available to families by mandating that approved providers publish their quality and compliance history. It will also prevent persons whose application for service or provider approval has been refused within the previous 12 months from applying again.

Victoria will have a new category of maximum penalties in Victoria for large service providers at 9 times the current amount, applicable to approved providers that operate 25 or more services. In doing so, we are sending a signal to large providers that they need to be more accountable and ensure better adherence to child safe practices and behaviours.

The Bill will give the Regulatory Authority a new regulatory tool to take disciplinary action and bring disciplinary proceedings against an approved provider who has contravened the National Law or the national regulations. If the Regulatory Authority and person cannot agree on an appropriate sanction or remediation for the breach, the Regulatory Authority can seek an order from VCAT to issue a disciplinary order that could include a reprimand, an administrative penalty or an order to take or refrain from taking certain actions.

The Bill also expands on the new suspension power in the National Law to empower the Regulatory Authority to give a notice directing individuals working in education and care services to suspend providing education and care for a specified period, rather than providing a notice to the approved provider directing them to suspend a specific staff member from providing education and care to children at that approved provider.

The Bill responds to the Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review conducted earlier this year in response to distressing allegations of abuse in Victorian education and care services. We have already implemented the Victorian Worker Register, which will be compatible with a National Register that will be established under this Bill.

This Bill goes hand in hand with the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority Bill and demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the safety of children in the education and care services sector.

The new, independent Victorian Regulator will be more transparent with greater ability to publish compliance and enforcement activity information on its website.

All children deserve to be safe wherever they learn, play and grow.

I commend the Bill to the house.