Queensland and New South Wales have joined forces to seek an urgent review of national child protection measures after police on Tuesday announced a 45-year-old former childcare worker had been charged with raping and assaulting dozens of children.
In 2015, an inquiry by the productivity commission into childcare and early childhood learning recommended state and territory governments harmonise background checks within two years. The report suggested this be done by creating a nationally consistent approach or implementing a single, nationally recognised working with children check.
But eight years on, the chief executive of the Australian Childhood Foundation, Joe Tucci, said that is yet to happen.
“There is no agreement between states yet about what constitutes a good risk assessment,” he said. “What we need is someone at the commonwealth level driving this but we’re yet to see that.”
The Queensland child safety minister, Craig Crawford, joined his counterparts in NSW in calling for improved data sharing across jurisdictions, agencies and state borders, as well as an out of session meeting of federal and state ministers to address the issue.
The Queensland education minister, Grace Grace, said the state would leave “no stone unturned” to keep children safe – and that national reform was already under way.
Regulation of the early childhood sector is governed by the National Quality Framework. Child safety standards have been agreed to by all states and territories, with amendments coming into effect in October, Grace said.
“To build on this, in March 2023 Education Ministers instigated a national review of the NQF’s child safety provisions. This review will identify any additional systemic safeguards needed to support services to protect children, with a focus on reducing harm, abuse and neglect,” she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, told parliament: “We are taking steps to look at any gaps in our system and our regulations to strengthen child protection in this state”.
“We will apply this to the early childhood sector and of course the school sector,” Minns said.
The education minister, Prue Car, will determine if oversight processes could be improved “so that any red flags in any sector are visible to other agencies and other jurisdictions and other states”.
Gemma McKibbin, a University of Melbourne expert in responding to child sexual abuse, said since the 2017 royal commission into institutional responses there have been a number of improvements in detecting child abuse, including mandatory reporting obligations for all educators.
But she said while improved processes are in place, “[if]we’re not equipping workers with the skills to recognise this behaviour, then they won’t lead to the outcomes we want to see”.
• In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
