Key Points
- Calls for a unified system have been growing following multiple reports of abuse in childcare centres.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the reports were a “wake-up call” for regulations.
- A NSW inquiry was told childcare centres were not checking whether staff were allowed to work with children.
Australia’s Working with Children Check (WWCC) laws are “hopeless”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, as the country’s top legal advisers meet to consider a national scheme.
Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland is meeting with her state and territory counterparts in Sydney today to discuss setting up a national system for WWCCs.
Calls for a unified system have been growing following multiple reports of abuse in childcare centres.
A notable case involved a childcare worker in Victoria who was permitted to keep his Working with Children Check and continue his employment in the sector, even after a major provider confirmed accusations of grooming against him.
Albanese said the reports were shocking and indicated more needed to be done to fix WWCCs.
“It’s hopeless, and we need to do better, quite clearly, and these revelations are a wake-up call for state and territory governments in terms of the regulations,” he told ABC Radio on Friday.
“The reports that we’ve seen recently have shocked parents and every parent’s worst nightmare. That’s why we are taking action at the national level.”
Recommendations for a national WWCC scheme were made in the findings of the 2017 royal commission into child sexual abuse.
Rowland conceded the reform had not happened quickly enough.
“All representatives of states and territories are united in the goal of making this system better and making it safer for children, which should be our top priority,” she told ABC Radio.
“I acknowledged this has taken too long, but I wish to reassure Australians that … this is top of the agenda.
“What this will mean is that someone who is banned in one state or territory is banned in all states and territories.”
Rowland said the lack of a national scheme for WWCCs puts young people at risk.
The attorney-general said she was hopeful a national scheme would be in place within 12 months.
It comes as a NSW parliamentary inquiry on Thursday was told childcare centres were not checking whether staff were allowed to work with children before they were hired.
The inquiry was also told banned workers were able to work in the industry for years without oversight.
Liberal senator Jane Hume said a national scheme should have been implemented with “more urgency” when the Coalition was last in government.
“This is the right approach, to get a nationally uniform approach to Working with Children Checks,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
Laws passed by the federal parliament in July will strip funding from childcare centres not meeting compliance.
Education ministers will also meet next week to consider further child safety laws for childcare centres.
Among the measures being considered are use of CCTV in centres, as well as mandatory child safety training.
