Victorian Government under pressure to reform childcare sector

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian Government is under pressure to take immediate action on the state's childcare sector as parliament returns - with the Opposition and Greens both wanting a stronger response in the wake of a story which has shocked the nation.

Transcript

00:00Parliament is back, it's had its winter break and it's the first time it's met since those

00:06quite disturbing allegations were made against the childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown. He's

00:11facing 73 charges and it's really thrown the spotlight onto this sector as we know. Now

00:16the government, as you said, has set up a rapid review by former Premier Jay Weatherill

00:20and that is looking at some quick fixes basically to the system. And what the Greens are doing

00:24here, they will move this week a motion to set up a parliamentary inquiry, a powerful

00:29parliamentary inquiry, to have a look at this sector and go further than Jay Weatherill's

00:33rapid review. It'll look at the performance of the regulator, it'll look at performance

00:37of what's happening with working with children checks, which has been identified already as

00:41an area that needs some significant reform. So that is one area that is looking at. I understand

00:47that inquiry will get up in the next couple of days, that will be commissioned, it'll take

00:51about a year and I think that is something that probably needs to happen given there's

00:54been so much, I guess, outpouring of anger and concern about how this system is operating

00:58and just from reporting we know that there's been quite a few issues. Now the opposition

01:03have tried to seize a bit of the momentum themselves. They are putting forward a private members bill

01:07today here in the lower house and that is to make some significant changes to the working

01:12with children checks immediately. Now why this is really important, Ros, is because in 2022

01:18the Victorian Ombudsman found that the state's working with children's system, check system,

01:22was not working as well as it could have been and made a series of recommendations to strengthen

01:26that. Now three years later, it still hasn't happened. So the opposition are going to put

01:31forward a bill that would reduce the length of working with children's check validity from

01:38five to three years. It would mandate online training for child safe training to get a check

01:43because currently you don't do any training, you just apply for it. They'd also lower the threshold

01:48to have that check revoked or refused. And they also want to integrate it with the police

01:51database. So police will have greater powers to flag concerns where people should have

01:56their check removed. Now it's unlikely that that bill will get up because the government

02:01has lots, has a very big majority here in Victoria and haven't shown any willingness to support

02:07a private members bill. Here's the Shadow Attorney General, Michael O'Brien.

02:12This is all about protecting children. The Ombudsman laid down the pathway three years ago.

02:18Some very simple recommendations. And these, these are in this bill that we're introducing

02:23to the parliament today. Now the Allen Labor government didn't even respond to the Ombudsman's

02:29recommendations three years ago. Didn't even have the courtesy of a response. Well, it's not good

02:34enough. These loopholes have lasted for too long. Our children have been at risk for too long.

02:40And we are determined to close that loophole.

02:42Now the pressure has been mounting on the government to do more on the sector. They are setting up a

02:49state-based register of childcare workers, which will begin next month. But the first wave of that

02:55only includes places with government-funded kinder spots. Agency staff and family daycare centres are

03:01not included in that first round, which is raising some concern because that's where experts identify

03:05the highest risk for this sort of alleged poor behaviour, disturbing criminal behaviour has occurred.

03:12The Premier, though, when questioned about the proposals, both for the inquiry and the opposition's

03:17bill, says that the government is doing what it can.

03:21That the safety of children in childcare settings must be our priority and the system does need to be

03:27strengthened, which is why we'll go further. Which is why I've asked Jay Weatherill and Pam White to

03:33undertake the urgent review. And their report is only a matter of weeks away. We will consider it and

03:41respond to those recommendations.

03:45So we'll be closely watching what happens here in question time today. Expect it to be quite fiery.

03:50Pressure on the government to do more. And as we know that this is an issue that affects so many people.

03:55And for the Liberal Party particularly, they've struggled both at a national level and a state level

04:00to speak to people under 40, particularly parents. This could be an opportunity to get back into the game.

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