Government must act now to establish a National Early Childhood Commission following the release of Senate report

MEDIA STATEMENT

April 1,  2026

Government must act now to establish a National Early Childhood Commission following the release of Senate report

Australia’s leading advocacy group for parents, The Parenthood, has acknowledged the release of a Senate committee report making 23 recommendations to enhance quality and safety in Australia’s early childhood education and care system. 

Speaking on behalf of the organisation’s 80,000 members, The Parenthood’s CEO, Georgie Dent, said the committee report made important recommendations to protect children in early learning and care settings. 

“We welcome recommendations, including better integrating working with children checks with educator registrations and police databases, subjecting centres to a minimum of four unannounced spot checks per year, and blocking childcare providers who are failing to meet national standards from establishing new centres and facilities,” Ms Dent said. 

“Australian parents want urgent reassurance their children are safe in early childhood education and care settings, and these measures — while meaningful and overdue — still do not go far enough.” 

Ms Dent seized on additional recommendations put forward by government senators for greater planning and coordination between the Commonwealth and the states, to call on the Prime Minister to establish a National Early Childhood Commission. 

“We welcome remarks from Labor and Greens’ committee members that endorsed evidence put before the committee, calling for a National Early Childhood Commission. This is a critical step to ensuring consistent oversight, safety and quality across the sector,” she said.

“The evidence is in and it is now time to act. The Parenthood is calling for the government to act immediately and establish a National Early Childhood Commission.” 

Ms Dent said it was disappointing the committee report failed to make any recommendation on educator wages, despite evidence showing that more than 70 per cent of people working in the sector consider leaving the sector. 

“Safe, quality and nurturing early childhood education and care settings rely on a committed, stable and fairly paid workforce. The committee admired the ECEC workforce crisis and made no meaningful recommendations to fix it.”

The Parenthood is calling on government to resolve the Worker Retention Payment immediately, bring forward a serious plan on workforce wages and ensure any review of the National Quality Framework strengthens, not erodes, quality standards. 

Ms Dent also said despite acknowledging ‘significant concerns’ with the Inclusion Support Program, the committee report failed to make substantive recommendations to improve it.

Nor did it address Paid Parental Leave, despite hearing strong evidence for an expanded PPL scheme, including The Parenthood’s call for 12 months of PPL. 

But Ms Dent welcomed the committee’s decision not to recommend extending government subsidies to unregulated in-home care arrangements. “This inquiry was called following harrowing and systemic evidence of system failure — everything we do now must enhance safety and oversight, not remove it.” 

The Parenthood is Australia’s leading parent advocacy organisation, representing families nationwide and working to make early childhood education and care safer, more affordable and accessible for every child.