And at the same time, the Australian child care sector is coming under increasing government scrutiny. Significant concerns have emerged about regulatory lapses and the state of workforce training. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made a splashy big expansion of child care his signature move in his 2022 and 2025 elections. As we have seen during the ongoing global pandemic, there are serious industry-wide systemic issues. When a childcare worker was recently charged with almost 70 offenses, concerns about enforcement and oversight or lack thereof bubbled to the surface.
In response to these challenges, Education Minister Jason Clare announced plans to introduce legislation during the first sitting of the new parliament aimed at removing federal funding from providers that fail to meet standards. This move comes as Clare visits various childcare centers across Australia, highlighting the government’s commitment to addressing these pressing issues.
Experts are raising alarms about the deeper issues with the training pipeline fostering childcare workers. Gabrielle Meagher, a social services expert and professor emerita at Macquarie University, emphasized the difficulties faced by regulators in maintaining standards.
“It’s very difficult to regulate across the gaps governments open up when they fund policies that they don’t deliver themselves.” – Gabrielle Meagher, professor emerita at Macquarie University.
Albanese’s aspirations for “affordable child care” are intertwined with the government’s responsibility for early childhood education, which falls under the purview of the federal education minister. The current dedicated minister, Jess Walsh, is a marked improvement over the last term’s Anne Aly.
The backdrop to all of these advancements is made heavier by a historical legacy of policy delivery failures in Australia. Tests of the notorious Robodebt scandal exposed deeply troubling practices of bureaucrat overreach, raising serious questions about the way that federal government programs are run and enforced. In Australia, the Rudd government introduced a home insulation program in response to the global financial crisis. This effort serves as a strong reminder of the dangers of pursuing new policies that have not been properly researched or implemented in an appropriate manner.
Arguably no sector has come under more fire than the childcare industry. Further fueling this backlash was the recent revelation by Nine media that much of the CFMEU had gone into administration. This tragic event has intensified calls for accountability, oversight, and governance across industries that are mostly funded by taxpayers.
State regulators have a difficult time keeping up with and overseeing the vast childcare industry. This has fostered an environment in which care and quality lapses may threaten the well-being of our children. Worries over the quality and safety of the products are increasing. Because of this, child care now serves as a “canary-in-the-mine,” warning us of systemic failure in policy delivery implementation more broadly across multiple sectors.
Michelle Grattan receives funding from the University of Canberra. As chief political correspondent at The Conversation, Michelle Grattan shows us that the current crisis in our childcare sector is exposing a more troubling, deeper malaise in how the government is executing its agenda.
