Federal Government introduces new childcare safety legislation – SNAICC in the News

In an effort to improve safety and quality standards across Australia’s early childhood education and care sector, the Albanese Government has, this week, introduced new childcare safety legislation to Federal Parliament.

The Early Childhood Safety Bill, introduced by Education Minister Jason Clare, marks a significant shift in how childcare subsidies are managed and how the federal government can intervene when children’s safety is at risk.

Under the proposed reforms, the Secretary of the Department of Education would be granted broad new powers to assess a provider’s eligibility for the Child Care Subsidy. This includes the ability to consider a provider’s safety, quality and compliance history. The federal government would also be able to withhold or cancel funding from services that breach safety laws, fail to meet National Quality Standards or operate in a way that places children at risk.

A show cause notice, outlining specific alleged breaches and requesting an explanation, would give providers 28 days to respond before losing access to federal funding. For many services that rely on the subsidy to cover around 70% of operating costs, this could mean forced closure. As reported by the Guardian, Clare said the reforms are not about shutting services down, but about ‘raising standards up’ and rebuilding trust. He said the legislation aims to ensure that the safety and quality in early learning settings meet what parents expect and children deserve. New powers for unannounced spot checks will also be introduced, expanding compliance investigations beyond finances to include safety issues.

The legislation builds on commitments made by the Albanese Government and states and territories following the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority Child Safety Review. These include:

• mandatory 24-hour reporting of abuse allegations or incidents,
• restrictions on personal mobile phone use in centres, and
• strengthened regulation of Working with Children Checks.

A national register for childcare workers, greater investment in safety training and the potential introduction of mandatory CCTV in centres will also be considered at the next meeting of education ministers.

Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Jess Walsh said the childcare safety legislation aims to ensure providers put children’s safety first, and that the system is better at identifying and responding to poor performance. She said the legislation sends a clear message: providers who consistently fail to meet standards will not receive funding. Walsh also confirmed that notices could be made public to warn families and hold providers to account. On ABC Radio Show The World Today, Clare described the $16 billion childcare subsidy as the federal government’s ‘biggest weapon’ for driving change in a sector dominated by private, for-profit providers.

While the bill has been broadly welcomed, it has also prompted calls for deeper reform. Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May called the bill a ‘band-aid measure’ that only acts after harm occurs, and reiterated calls for an independent watchdog to enforce national standards. She said that until government addresses the market-driven nature of the system, profit will continue to be prioritised over safety and quality.

Clare acknowledged that the legislation is just one part of a broader reform agenda. He said real change requires long-term commitment, saying that this reform ‘should have happened yesterday’. He said that there’s a lot more to be done and, ‘the terrible truth is, this work will never end’.

SNAICC response to the childcare safety legislation

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children has welcomed the Albanese Government’s new childcare safety legislation but warned that deeper structural issues must be addressed to improve safety and quality in early childhood education and care.

Arrernte and Luritja woman Catherine Liddle, CEO of SNAICC, expressed compassion for those affected by recent incidents, saying that our hearts go out to anyone impacted by what we’re hearing in the headlines. While she welcomed the new safeguards in the childcare safety legislation as necessary, she stressed that they must be part of a broader shift that addresses the root causes of risk, including persistent workforce shortages, inequitable access, and a market-driven system that too often prioritises profit over care. Catherine said the current Child Care Subsidy model effectively puts profit before children and said that when you introduce a profit-based system, it becomes a beast that says: ‘we want efficiency over care’. She said that fines and funding cuts alone won’t deliver lasting change, and that regulation without structural reform will not be enough to keep children safe.

Speaking in two ABC interviews this week, Catherine said that reactive legislation risks doing more harm than good, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. She urged the government to avoid knee-jerk reactions that cause harm and, instead, take the opportunity to implement the recommendations of the Productivity Commission, which broadly are to create an affordable, high-quality, and inclusive universal early childhood education and care system, improve service quality and workforce conditions, support disadvantaged communities, and establishing an independent commission to monitor progress, and transition to a more equitable, community-led system.

She pointed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations as leading examples of safe, culturally responsive care. She said that where community control exists, children are prioritised over profit and noted that a community-controlled service will say: ‘we value the child first’. According to Catherine, many community-controlled services already follow strong safety practices, such as always having two educators present during nappy changes, without the need for regulation.

On proposals such as mandatory CCTV and increased spot checks, Catherine acknowledged their potential benefits but said safety cannot be legislated through surveillance alone. She raised concerns that under-resourced services, particularly in regional and remote communities, could be overwhelmed by increased compliance demands. She added that it must be ensured that the legislation doesn’t do more harm and doesn’t entrench disadvantage in services. Catherine also urged the government to address pay inequality for early childhood educators, saying that early education and care staff should be paid like any other teacher in the country, in salary, value and conditions.

Catherine reiterated SNAICC’s longstanding call for a national Working with Children Check to prevent harmful individuals from slipping through the cracks between states. She said that we need something that means people are tracked state to state and that any system should be designed to support a strong, safe and culturally competent workforce, not just regulate it.

SNAICC is calling on the government to be bold and invest in a community-led, future-proof model of early education and care. Catherine said now is the time to get it right; to stand up the Commission, work closely with the sector, and put children first. She said that now is the time; invest in our children, so Australia has one of the best early education and care systems in the world.

For full coverage, find our media release below.

Queensland child protection inquiry, Victorian bail reforms and UN Report

This week, Queensland launched a new child protection inquiry, Victoria proposed changes to its bail laws, and a coalition of organisations submitted a report to the United Nations raising concerns about the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia’s child protection and justice systems.

In Queensland, a $20 million Commission of Inquiry has been launched into Queensland’s child safety system. The Commission will ‘investigate systemic issues within the state’s child safety system and aims to uncover failures and recommend reforms to better protect vulnerable children’. Reported by NIT, the inquiry will investigate the state’s over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, and their ongoing entanglement in the youth justice system. The inquiry, led by former Federal Court judge Paul Anastassiou KC, will examine how the current system may be structurally funneling children from protection into criminalisation.

Catherine Liddle welcomed the inquiry but warned that it must centre the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. She said that it is known that when our children encounter the system in Queensland, they are more likely to be subjected to serious harm.

In Victoria, proposed changes to the state’s bail laws have drawn strong opposition from Aboriginal legal and human rights groups, as reported by NIT. Advocates warn that the introduction of the ‘High Harm Test’ and ‘Two Strike Test’ will further criminalise vulnerable communities and contribute to rising Aboriginal deaths in custody.

At the national level, a coalition of more than 150 Aboriginal, legal, refugee, disability and LGBTIQA+ organisations has submitted a joint report to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of Australia’s Universal Periodic Review, as reported by NIT. The submission outlines how successive governments have failed to act on key recommendations from decades of royal commissions and inquiries, particularly those impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The report calls for urgent action, including:

• a federal Human Rights Act with independent Indigenous oversight
• the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and treaty
• reparations for Stolen Generations survivors
• raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14, and
• urgent reform of discriminatory policing and incarceration practices.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Catherine Liddle said the evidence put before the UN makes it clear that Australia is fundamentally failing to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She noted that only 6% of recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report into the Stolen Generations have ever been implemented, despite more than 33 subsequent reports into systemic failures affecting children. Catherine said that these reports are just sitting on a shelf and that reactionary reforms from states and territories ‘light things up like Christmas trees’ but have no real substance. Catherine said reactionary reforms will not make children safer, families stronger, or communities stronger.

Catherine said true reform must go beyond reviews and band-aid responses, saying that the report to the UN says: ‘Federal Government, it’s time to step up’. She said it is time to bring in a Human Rights Act with independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oversight, and to sit it alongside truth-telling processes that reflect the real dignity and reality of what’s happening in this country.

Tiwi Islands Football Grand Final and Cultural Festival

The 2025 Tiwi Islands Football League Grand Final weekend was celebrated alongside the Tiwi Cultural Festival.

As reported by the ABC, the women’s final saw the Magpies dominate the Walama Bulldogs and, in men’s final, the Imalu Tigers broke a 12-year drought to defeat the undefeated Muluwurri Magpies, with coach Bradley Rioli dedicating the win to his late uncle, Willie Rioli Sr.

More than 2,000 visitors travelled to Bathurst Island for the Tiwi Cultural Festival, which featured traditional dance, storytelling, music, art and workshops. Local artist Carol Puruntatameri described it as a powerful opportunity to share Dreaming stories and cultural knowledge with the wider world. Tiwi Land Council Chair Leslie Tungatalum said the combination of sport and culture, supported by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, has the potential to become a nationally recognised annual event that strengthens culture and boosts local economic opportunities.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Catherine Liddle said that if you’re familiar with the Tiwi Islands, you know that they have two religions up there—and this is one of them. She said the event brings people to the island, supports the local economy and lifts community spirits, saying that it is just awesome to see. Catherine praised both grand final teams and encouraged Australians to seek out photos from the weekend, saying it would give anyone a fundamentally wonderful start to the day.

For full coverage, find the relevant news stories linked below.