Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Early childhood education and care

Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (13:51): (967) My question is to the Minister for Children. Minister, children’s safety in childcare settings is currently regulated and overseen by QARD, the quality assessment and regulation division, and the Commission for Children and Young People. While they play important roles in regulation and oversight, QARD is ultimately accountable to the government of the day, and the commission’s primary role is to provide advice to ministers and departments, not the Parliament or the public. This structure means that the government is marking its own homework, raising serious questions about whether these bodies can operate impartially, transparently and without political influence. After recent allegations of serious and systemic abuse in early childhood settings and the erosion of public trust that you alluded to, Minister, how do you justify to Victorian parents that we do not need a truly independent oversight body to keep our babies and our toddlers safe?

The PRESIDENT: I am just concerned it is asking for an opinion. If you like, you can try and rephrase it.

Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO: Sure, I will rephrase it, President. Minister, will you look into providing a truly independent oversight body, aka an independent safety watchdog in early child care?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (13:53): I thank Ms Gray-Barberio for her question. As I indicated in my ministers statement, our rapid review will look at a number of things, including the way in which our regulatory system works together. And as –

Members interjecting.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: Sorry, President. Again, I cannot hear myself when Ms Crozier continues to interject as she does.

The PRESIDENT: Can we reset the clock.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: I am attempting to answer Ms Gray-Barberio’s very legitimate and relevant question within my portfolio, and I would appreciate the opportunity to do so without the interjections of those opposite.

As has been clearly set out within the terms of reference of the rapid review that the Premier and I announced following the sickening allegations in relation to the accused, our review will identify options to improve interactions between regulatory schemes, including information sharing between regulators and agencies both within Victoria and across jurisdictions. That includes many of the schemes and frameworks and whatnot that Ms Crozier included in her point of order but did not include in her question and seemed to be confusing with the working with children check. But the CCYP is a statutory and independent body that is not answerable to government and in many instances provides recommendations to government that government is then answerable to the commission in relation to.

But Ms Gray-Barberio does raise a relevant point in relation to how our schemes better work together. She also raises a relevant question in relation to the status of the early childhood regulator. As I have indicated publicly in recent weeks, this was something that government was already looking at and continues to be looking at and which indeed we have asked our reviewers to look at as to what the options are. We will not pre-empt the review, but certainly from our perspective we want to ensure that we have the best forces and organisational structures to ensure that in the implementation of the national framework, the national quality standards and the national law there is the appropriate regulation and oversight of those. I would also stress – and I had, previous to these current matters, raised this point at the national education ministers meeting – that regulation was something that –

Members interjecting.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: You have not even listened to what I am about to say, which is that our regulators were previously partly resourced by the Commonwealth government. I, as did other ministers from around the jurisdictions, raised with the Commonwealth that support from them to our state regulators in relation to the implementation of the national framework, the national quality standards and the national laws. We will continue to do that work. We will not pre-empt the review. It is a rapid review. It will report on 15 August, and we look forward to having further conversations about these matters.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Before I call Ms Gray-Barberio, I think someone who asked a question and wants to interject loudly during the answer to the question is one thing, but interjecting loudly to the question from another member who wants to listen to the answer is something else. So I would ask Ms Gray-Barberio to ask the supplementary, and I would appreciate her being heard without people drowning out the minister’s answer.

Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (13:57): Minister, I do recognise the rapid review that is in place at the moment. However, the terms of reference of this rapid review do not look at the regulator which is responsible for monitoring and ensuring children’s safety. I just want to point that out. I am very concerned that that has not being included in Labor’s rapid review in response to one of the most horrific cases of child sexual abuse. Minister, I think you have answered part of my supplementary question, but could you provide a clear timeframe of when this government will have an outcome regarding the establishment of the independent early childhood safety watchdog so that Victorian parents can have some kind of transparency about how your government is dealing with this?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (13:58): I thank Ms Gray-Barberio for her supplementary. I would at the outset, though, say it is disingenuous to suggest that we are excluding consideration of the regulator. What we did make clear is that QARD has an ongoing investigation in relation to the current matters, which they are working with VicPol on, and we did want to make sure that the current QARD investigation is not impeded. But I fully expect – particularly in line with the term that I read out at the start of my substantive answer, in that identifying options to improve interactions between regulatory schemes, including information sharing between regulators and agencies, both within Victoria and across jurisdictions, as well as the fact that the terms of reference are very clear, are things that are to be included but are not limited to, if you go to the terms of reference – that the review will look at our system of regulation and have the authority to make recommendations around our system of regulation. That rapid review will report on 15 August. As we have said, we will adopt every recommendation coming out of that rapid review, and that includes those pertaining to systems of regulation themselves.