Childcare Crisis Prevalent in South Australia Despite Claims from Authorities

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Childcare has been described as a sector in crisis, an industry plagued by a lack of regulation where operators look to maximise profits and predators fall through the cracks. In South Australia, authorities say they're ahead of other states but data released to the ABC has highlighted a reluctance by the state's regulator to take serious action in recent years.

Transcript

00:00It's a critical industry that underpins families and workforces.

00:07And most parents are aware Australia's struggling childcare sector is under the microscope.

00:14The ABC's Four Corners program has uncovered problems with the way Australia oversees our

00:19childcare industry, allowing predators access and ultimately putting kids at risk.

00:26Here in SA, we've had our share of troubled centres.

00:30But South Australian authorities say they're on top of things.

00:34Back in 2023, a state royal commission found SA's independent childcare regulator was struggling.

00:41So the state government pumped funding into the Education Standards Board.

00:46But data collected before and after that royal commission paints a troubling picture.

00:53It shows the board has rarely given out serious penalties.

00:57Numbers given to the ABC under Freedom of Information show the Education Standards Board didn't prosecute

01:03any childcare provider between the start of 2020 and near the end of 2024.

01:10During those almost five years, it cancelled just one childcare registration and handed out

01:1510 suspensions.

01:17Interestingly, out of almost 10,000 incidents or complaints made to the board which were

01:22investigated but didn't result in any further action, nearly 6,000 or 60% of those were about

01:29for-profit childcare providers.

01:32The Education Minister says the vast majority of those cases have been handled appropriately,

01:38but admits some fell through the cracks.

01:40In some cases, we had a regulator that was badly under-resourced and wasn't prepared to

01:45take action.

01:46That's no longer the case and we're seeing this really big uptick now in compliance action.

01:51We believe that there needs to be more done to make sure that the centres are able to run

01:55appropriately.

01:56The Minister expects more checks will mean more childcare centres face serious penalties in

02:02the years to come.

02:04The long-term hope is complaint numbers will plateau as a problematic culture in our critical

02:10childcare industry changes.

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