Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:12): I rise to update the house on the introduction of amendments to deliver a comprehensive overhaul of the child safety system in Victoria. Following shocking allegations earlier this year the government commissioned a rapid review, and the rapid review made 22 recommendations to improve child safety. The government has committed to implementing all 22 recommendations. The bills being introduced today support a suite of complementary legislative changes to acquit these recommendations. Last sitting week our government introduced legislation to create the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority. VECRA will be a nation-leading statutory authority, commencing on 1 January 2026, and VECRA will more than double compliance checks across services. The new regulator will also oversee an early childhood workforce register. The register, established in July this year, already includes an additional 68,000 workers. The working with children check, reportable conduct scheme and child safe standards will also be brought into the social services regulator, and changes to the working with children check laws will give the regulator the authority to act quickly to immediately refuse or revoke a check when credible information is received.

Mandatory child safety training and testing will be developed and introduced for all applicants, and in line with recommendation 6.2 of the rapid review, VCAT will no longer review decisions, with an internal review function established. The rapid review highlighted that children with disability may be at higher risk of abuse, so we are bringing disability entities into the expanded regulator as well. We are also introducing legislation into Parliament with reforms agreed to by all states and territories to the national law governing safety and quality in early childhood education, including a statutory duty to make the safety, rights and best interests of children the paramount consideration, introducing mandatory child protection and child safety training in all services and increasing penalties. In addition, the legislation contains additional powers applying to Victoria, and these changes further strengthen the regulatory tools for VECRA. I thank those opposite for the meaningful and cooperative way in which they have engaged in these discussions so far, and it is definitely a testament to the fact that this Parliament can be above politics when it comes to child safety. These changes will help to ensure that children are safe wherever they learn, play and grow.