More heartbreaking and sickening abuse revelations in childcare: Parents advocacy group responds

Statement from Georgie Dent, CEO of advocacy group The Parenthood 

The early revelations from the upcoming Four Corners investigation into abuse in early childhood education and care are truly shocking. We are deeply distressed for the families of all victims of abuse and neglect.

Parents and grandparents right across Australia are feeling fear, anger and heartbreak. To discover any abuse of a young child in a place they are meant to be nurtured and supported is deeply disturbing. To learn that such abuse may be widespread is sickening.

Every child deserves to be safe. Every parent deserves to be able to trust the early education and care system.

The Parenthood welcomed the swift action taken by governments earlier this year in response to Adele Ferguson’s first Four Corners report and the allegations against Joshua Brown in Victoria. The steps agreed by Education Ministers in August to strengthen safeguarding were important first steps. But parents now need confidence that systemic reform is coming.

Because the problem is not only about regulation or enforcement — it’s structural. Structural reform is required to ensure all early learning and care services are funded and run in a way that puts the safety and wellbeing of children above profit.

Early childhood education and care is essential infrastructure for families and children. Quality early education and care builds children’s social and cognitive skills during a crucial window of brain development. It is essential for most Australian families — and it must be safe and high quality for every child, everywhere.

The current funding model is not delivering that. The Child Care Subsidy system is broken. Out-of-pocket fees have soared without a matching improvement in quality. Supply is not guided by need, and the market-based model too often incentivises profit ahead of care.

The lesson from this horror is not that parents should avoid early education and care. It’s that we must urgently reform the system to make it safe, high quality and trustworthy for every family.

The Parenthood calls on the Federal Government to act with urgency and leadership by:

• Establishing a paid parental leave scheme that gives parents genuine choice to care for their baby during the first year of life.
  

• Reforming the early childhood education and care funding model to make it genuinely affordable for all families.
  

• Creating a National Early Childhood Commission to deliver the national leadership this vital system deserves. 

The Prime Minister has said he wants universal early childhood education and care to be his legacy. To achieve that legacy, system reform is not optional — it is essential.