United Workers Union early education director says educators want providers held accountable

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Education ministers today agreed to establish a national register of childcare workers and a trial of CCTV cameras in childcare centres. The changes are aimed at addressing abuse in the early childhood sector. Carolyn Smith is the early childhood director at the United Workers Union.

Transcript

00:00Look, I think everyone in the sector is absolutely focused on keeping children safe.

00:09Our members, educators across Australia, have been gutted about these revelations.

00:15You know, they get up every day, go to work to keep children safe, to, you know, help

00:22them grow and learn and really live their best lives.

00:25And this has been a really, really tough time for all workers in the sector.

00:30No doubt.

00:31One of the major announcements has been this trial of CCTV cameras to be rolled out at 300 centres.

00:40Is there any information yet on where those centres will be, which ones will be part of

00:46this trial and how that trial will be assessed?

00:50Yeah, look, we'll be working with state and federal government about where those are rolled

00:55out.

00:55And obviously, you know, what we want to do is really assess the efficacy of this CCTV,

01:04but also the safety.

01:05And I think whilst it kind of, you know, could potentially look like something that will keep

01:11children safe, we also have to make sure that that vision, that footage of children from 17,000

01:17centres around Australia, if it's introduced everywhere, is also kept safe from potential

01:23predators.

01:26Is CCTV, and there's also now this ban on the use of mobile phones in centres, are these things

01:33that are not already in place in some areas?

01:36Look, many centres already have CCTV and many centres already have a ban on any device that

01:45can take photo or film children, any personal device being in centres.

01:51So that's not completely unusual.

01:54And look, educators are willing to look at anything we can do to keep children safe.

01:59I think, though, we also want to talk about the role of staffing.

02:02I think it's easy to try and find the silver bullet.

02:06But ultimately, what is going to keep children safe is adequate staffing and staff who are

02:12trained and supported to raise issues when they see them.

02:17Yeah, that does kind of go to something else I wanted to ask you about, which is this issue

02:21of ratios in childcare centres.

02:24Has there been any discussion at these meetings around addressing ratios and staffing in childcare

02:32centres?

02:33Well, look, we heard, Jason Clare, the Minister today, that ASECWA, the national body, will

02:40be tasked with looking at staffing, looking at supervision and staffing, and particularly

02:45looking at the issue of under-the-roof ratios, looking at whether we have adequate staff in centres

02:54to look after our children.

02:56One of the other announcements today has, of course, been this National Register of Educators.

03:01Is this something that the union supports?

03:05And how will that impact the workforce, do you think?

03:10Look, clearly, we've got to do what it takes to keep kids safe.

03:14There is no doubt about that.

03:15And educators are up for anything that keeps children safe.

03:19You know, we've seen with the really disturbing events in Victoria that it took days, even

03:25weeks, for police to track down where the predators were working.

03:31So we need to fix that.

03:32There's no doubt about that.

03:34Educators also want to know that the person they're working alongside has been properly

03:41checked and vetted as well.

03:42When we talk about sort of needing more staff in childcare centres, you know, to address

03:49those ratio issues you were talking about and issues with using agencies and people going

03:54between centres here and there, is there sort of, I guess, a disconnect in that need for

04:02there to be a huge boost to the workforce, but also, you know, for there obviously to need

04:09to be all of these checks and balances done and for the right people to be in these centres?

04:15And look, that's why it's so important that we hear from educators.

04:19We have heard from a lot of experts in the sector, and these are people who have thought

04:23long and hard about issues in the sector.

04:26But it is really important that educators' voices are heard because we want to make sure

04:32that educators stay in the sector, you know, build a career in the sector, because that

04:37is ultimately what is going to keep children safe.

04:40This week, we've also seen the first list of centres at risk of losing their funding

04:46under this new federal legislation that looks at taking funding from centres that don't meet

04:52safety standards.

04:53How has that been received in the sector?

04:58Look, educators want providers to be held to account.

05:01And they want providers to not keep receiving public money to run centres that are substandard.

05:10And so I think, you know, there's really no one thing that's going to fix the sector.

05:15It's a whole lot of small things or a whole lot of quite significant things.

05:20And being able to take away funding from centres that are not keeping children safe is absolutely

05:26important.

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