Tuesday, 12 August 2025

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. The childcare regulator, QARD, identified serious breaches at a Springvale early learning centre in March 2023. It took a year for the government to act on these breaches. Despite this, the Minister for Children has said the regulator is effectively doing its job. Why did it take over a year to stop this operator from working with children?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:15): As I have said on previous occasions, it is absolutely clear that the system needs to be strengthened, and there are a number of regulators –

Members interjecting.

Jacinta ALLAN: It is in that context too, in commissioning the rapid review that is being undertaken by Jay Weatherill and Pam White, that we have been clear that if changes need to be made we stand ready to make them, because it is clear that the system –

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question is not about a review in the future. This question is very narrow and direct in terms of: why did it take a year to stop this operator from operating? I would ask you to ask the Premier to come back to that narrow question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was referring to that work because it is clear that in terms of the regulatory environment how regulators share information is one of the issues that has emerged. That is why the rapid review has been commissioned. In terms of the specific example that the Leader of the Opposition –

Brad Battin: On a point of order, Speaker, in relation to relevance, the Premier keeps referring to the rapid review. The rapid review does not even refer to QARD in it or look at it directly in relation to the regulation. How can that be relevant to this specific question?

The SPEAKER: The Premier is being relevant to the question that was asked.

Brad Battin: On a point of order, Speaker, just to clarify in relation to relevance –

Members interjecting.

Brad Battin: You are allowed to seek clarification. In clarification of relevance, a future review into something that is not even referencing the regulator that is mentioned in the question – can I ask how in any way or by any means that is in reference to the questions that I have asked and relevant to the question that we have put forward?

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition should know that it is not appropriate to be asking you questions from the floor. If he has something that he wants to raise with –

Brad Battin interjected.

Mary-Anne Thomas: If you have a look at page 150, ‘Issues within jurisdiction’ under ‘Questions to the Speaker’, you will see that it is not in order to ask the Speaker a question. That was a ruling of Speaker Plowman in 1996.

Sam Groth: On the point of order, Speaker, 58(1)(b) says that matters extraneous to the question should not be introduced. I would put to you that bringing in a review that does not reference the regulator is extraneous to the question and the matter at hand.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order. Members will be removed without warning. I am so pleased that members have been studying the standing orders in my absence. The Leader of the House is correct. However, in this instance I will respond to the Leader of the Opposition’s point of order. In reflection on the question, the question referred to the operator and working with children, and the Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: In directly referring, as I was, to the Leader of the Opposition’s question, I make this clear about the work of the rapid review: indeed it is disingenuous to say that the regulator is not being considered as part of this review, because in the terms of reference –

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: Let me quote from the terms of reference for your benefit:

identify options to improve interactions between regulatory schemes, including information sharing between regulators and agencies, both within Victoria and across jurisdictions.

I say this very clearly to the Leader of the Opposition: we understand that the system needs to be strengthened, that there is more action that needs to be taken, and it will be taken. We have already moved to strengthen the worker-screening unit within the working with children check system. We have already moved to ban personal devices in childcare centres and also establish a worker registration scheme in early childhood settings, not waiting for a national scheme to be in place. We will –

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question. What she is referring to is nothing to do with why it took over a year to stop this operator working with children.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is answering the question in the way the Premier wants to. I think she has concluded her answer. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): The regulator ordered the centre to shut in August 2024. Can the Premier confirm the regulator visited the centre a month later and it was still operating, with children at risk?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:21): In terms of the specific question around the activities of the independent regulator, I very clearly will need to seek advice on the way the regulator conducts investigations across thousands of early childcare settings. In terms of the regime that they apply – and I know the Minister for Children has gone to this publicly – in terms of the work that the regulator does across a very large number of centres, I am not obviously in a position to provide that information because the work of the independent regulator is just that. It is independent, and I will not engage in a reckless exchange with the Leader of the Opposition like he is endeavouring to do on this matter.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier does not have an opportunity, in answering the question, to attack the opposition. I would ask you to ask the Premier to come back to answering the question, which is about a regulator, which she keeps referring to as independent, that sits within the Department of Education in her government. I would ask you to ask the Premier to come back to the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has concluded her answer.