Australia will get a register to track educators and CCTV trial in centres – we still need more to keep kids safe

This year Australia has seen a horrific string of reports and allegations about abuse and neglect in childcare centres. Families are desperate to ensure their kids are safe and political leaders have been rushing to respond.

Last month, federal parliament passed legislation to strip funding from centres not meeting safety and quality standards. Earlier this week, the Victorian government released a damning report, which called for a shakeup of the early childhood sector.

On Friday, Australia’s federal and state education ministers agreed on several new safety measures. Federal Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh described them as “the strongest and most significant package of child safety reforms in our nation’s history.”

What was agreed? And how could they be improved?

What’s been announced?

Education ministers agreed to set up a new “national educator register” to tell regulators who is working in the early childhood sector and where. It will also show the status of people’s working with children checks. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said it would be developed from scratch, need new legislation and roll out from February next year.

Other measures include:

• mandatory child safety training for all early childhood education staff – including the bosses of childcare companies. This will begin in 2026 to help workers “spot a person who might be hiding in plain sight” and who may be grooming a child

• a national CCTV trial in up to 300 services, which will begin by the end of 2025

• a ban on personal mobile phones in services from September 1 2025

• 1,600 extra spot checks to be carried out by Commonwealth officers

• more information for parents about the condition and record of centres, including the last time a check was made and if any issues have been raised by regulators.

These measures are a positive start but they could also go further, as we explain below.

Read more: The new childcare bill relies on something going wrong to keep kids 'safe'. Here's what else we should do

Is a national educator register a good idea?

A register for early childhood education and care workers makes sense. The register will be helpful for tracking where people have worked, so potential employers can look up the backgrounds of those applying for jobs.

For example, it could be a red flag if someone has moved around a lot (noting the sector is highly casualised, staff turnover is high and it is not unusual for people to work in multiple jobs). A national register will also help investigators if someone is suspected of wrongdoing.

Clare says the government will “develop and build” the register over time. But in its current planned form, it falls short of a nationally consistent reportable conduct scheme (which was proposed by the child abuse royal commission in 2017).

This would include any reports of misconduct that cannot be prosecuted criminally and are therefore missed in criminal history screenings (via working with children checks).

Some states are doing this on their own (for example from July 2026, in Queensland, early childhood organisations will be required to report concerning conduct from anyone who works with children). This week, the Victorian government announced it would reform its reportable conduct scheme so information relevant to child-safety “whether substantiated or not” is shared with relevant regulators and agencies.

But such schemes are most effective if they’re all connected to each other as it’s very easy to cross a border in Australia. We should also be enforcing standards around reference checks – which was recommended by the Victorian review this week.

How would CCTV help?

A 2025 report on the New South Wales sector estimated 30% of childcare services already had CCTV installed.

Obviously, 300 services nationally is not a lot (there are more than 9,000 centre-based services in Australia). Clare said the trial would look at where cameras are placed in centres and how data can be safely stored.

We know CCTV can have a general deterrent effect – and people are less likely to offend if they believe they are being surveilled. And it can also be used in investigations if there is an allegation or complaint. Research (including our own upcoming study) suggests many educators would like CCTV for their own protection if allegations were ever made against them.

But we can’t expect CCTV to prevent everything – you can’t have someone sitting at a control panel looking at footage all the time.

The Victorian report recommended a “four eyes” principle in centres, where there need to be two adults, visible to each other, taking care of kids at all times. Clare told reporters on Friday ministers had asked the national childcare authority to report back before the end of the year on this idea and the impact on educator-to-child ratios. This is an important prevention strategy. But it will depend on addressing workforce issues so there are enough staff who are empowered to speak up when they notice something.

More spot checks

Regulatory agencies have been woefully under-resourced – so more funds to do checks is a positive step. But beyond the spot checks, regulators need to actually shut services down if they are unsafe.

They have previously had the power to do this but have rarely done it, given the impact on families. As the Productivity Commission noted in 2024, shutting a service down was “severe” and “should be used as a last resort when less severe measures have not succeeded.”

Parents should also know they can do a spot check themselves at any time. Just turn up at your centre unannounced (so, not at 8am or 5pm). Is your centre welcoming and happy to see you? Do the children seem calm and cared for?

Read more: Parents of kids in daycare are terrified following Melbourne abuse allegations. What can they do?

What are we missing?

As the Victorian report observed this week, there is an inherent problem in Australia’s early childhood system. It is mainly run by for-profit providers. We know for-profit childcare services are, on average, rated as lower quality than not-for-profit services.

These latest federal government proposals don’t address the root causes of problems in the early childhood. Instead they work within the boundaries of what we already have. There is a tendency for policymakers to take the conventional wisdom and package it up and say “we’re doing more, we’re trying harder”.

Arguably we have to do something more radical and restructure the entire sector so profit is not a driver and services are only focused on quality and safety.

Brian Q. Jenkins has received funding from the Queensland Family and Child Commission.

Danielle Arlanda Harris has received funding from the Queensland Family and Child Commission.