Mobile phones will be banned, CCTV rolled out, and a national worker register established under an overhaul of the nation’s childcare sector.
Following a gathering with their state and territory colleagues this morning, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare and Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh revealed new initiatives.
Under the crackdown, all workers will be banned from using mobile phones in childcare centres from September.
The planned reforms come in the wake of unsettling abuse allegations against two distinct childcare workers, Joshua Dale Brown and David William James, that surfaced last month.
Brown, aged 26, has been charged with 70 offences purportedly carried out at childcare centers in Melbourne, while James, also 26, is facing 13 charges related to alleged incidents at out-of-school-hours care services in Sydney.
Clare said today’s announcement wasn’t a silver bullet to fix all weaknesses in the childcare system, but still an important step forward.
“Is it everything we need to do? No, of course it is not,” he said.
“But it is the next thing we must do…
“The awful truth is this work will never end because there will always be bad people who try to poke holes in the system and find vulnerabilities.”
