‘Tragic’ childcare abuse shouldn’t drive kneejerk shift
Tom Wark |
Authorities should resist kneejerk reactions to horrific reports of abuse in childcare centres, instead using the “tragic” events to drive true reform, an inquiry has heard.
Scrutiny should also be given to how regulators are resourced before questions of their independence are addressed, with parental advocates saying staffing and qualification shortfalls are eroding trust in the system.
“If the regulator is under-resourced … it doesn’t matter where it sits because the resources are still the same,” Thrive By Five executive director Penny Dakin told a NSW upper house inquiry on Wednesday.
“We don’t get these moments very often and we have to use the one we have – as tragic as the reasons behind it are – to actually do that system reform.”
The inquiry into early childhood education and care was told parents are reconsidering whether to trust their children in the hands of early learning educators because of abuse reports.
“There is grief, fear and deep anxiety among parents of young children,” The Parenthood chief executive Georgie Dent said.
But Australia’s largest regulator argued supervisory responsibilities should be cut free from the state education department because of the perceived conflict of interest in being a major provider of care and a watchdog.
NSW’s childcare regulator sits inside the education department, effectively making the secretary the ultimate regulator, department head Murat Dizdar told the inquiry.
Despite calls for tougher rules to protect vulnerable children, closing every childcare centre reported for a quality breach was not feasible, Mr Dizdar said.
Experts argued the sector was overrun with for-profit providers, which were incentivised to provide the bare minimum for children and staff.
“Large, for-profit providers pay less, hire less experienced workers, have more turnover,” researcher Gabrielle Meagher said.
An undervaluing of early childhood teachers and the education they provided young children was also driving profiteering and poor oversight.
“Having such prolific for-profit provisioning says it’s a service, not education,” fellow academic Marianne Fenech said.
The pair slammed the perverse incentives allowing a surge in profit-driven providers and the failure to mandate a need for all providers to act first and foremost in the interests of the 1.3 million Australian children in childcare.
Union representatives stressed that safety for children was directly linked to stable staffing and robust educator-to-child ratios.
“How can you have a child-safe culture if you have constant turnover of staff?” Independent Education Union secretary Carol Matthews said.
The for-profit childcare sector had grown 30 per cent since 2015, while not-for-profit providers declined eight per cent, Community Early Learning Australia said.
“The over-reliance on for-profit services to meet demand for education and care services has failed to ensure access for all families,” the early childhood body said.
Acting NSW Early Learning Minister Courtney Houssos said providers that consistently fell foul of quality guidelines would have their funding cut under government reforms being considered.
The inquiry comes amid nationwide scrutiny on the regulation and safety of childcare after shocking reports of abuse.
G8 Education, the operator of a centre where educator Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused children, said in a submission that its staff were struggling emotionally while working through the fallout of the revelations.
Brown is accused of abusing eight children aged under two at a centre in Melbourne between April 2022 and January 2023.
Federal Labor has enlisted consulting giant Deloitte to design a universal childcare scheme for the nation.
Deloitte will spend two years assessing whether a flat fee of $10 a day could replace the current childcare subsidy, which is calculated on household income.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
AAP
