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Education Minister Jason Clare says ‘horrific evidence’ shows children not protected at childcare centres

Education Minister Jason Clare says only 93% of childcare centres meet safety standards and admits children are not fully protected, announcing phone bans and CCTV funding.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says he cannot reassure parents their children are safe at childcare centres, pointing to “horrific evidence that they’re not”.

The Long Sip
What happened

Education Minister Jason Clare admitted he cannot reassure parents their children are safe at childcare centres, citing horrific evidence of abuse.

The detail

Up to 93 per cent of centres now meet the National Quality Standard, up from 88 per cent in 2022, but only 30 per cent have CCTV cameras installed.

What it means

New measures include banning staff mobile phones, an $11.5 million CCTV commitment, and legislation to cut funding and shut down unsafe centres.

For you

The government is spending $11.5 million to help not-for-profit childcare centres install CCTV cameras, and has banned personal mobile phones in centres nationwide.

Full story at News.com.au

What readers are saying

ChildcareCostsClaire
The phone ban is the real action here - if you're looking at centres, ask directly whether they've actually implemented it and how they're enforcing it. That's the one thing Clare said police flagged as genuinely important. 📱
StayAtHomeAisha
The bit about the register to track workers moving between centres and across state lines is the detail that matters - no more slipping through the cracks when someone's flagged at one place. That's concrete infrastructure, not just promises.
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