What changes will the Bill make if passed?

The Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025, has the stated purpose of strengthening regulation in the early childhood education and care sector to improve safety and quality outcomes.

The Bill, if passed, will:

1. Allow the Commonwealth Government to determine that a provider or service is no longer eligible to receive the child care subsidy, on the basis of quality and safety considerations, including:

a. the provider’s record of demonstrating commitment to, and achievement of, high quality education and care;

b. any previous assessment done in accordance with the National Quality Standard;

c. any notifications in respect of serious incidents, or that could have resulted in serious incidents (or complaints of alleged serious incidents);

d. non-compliance with laws relating to quality or safety;

e. improvements with respect to quality and safety.

2. Allows authorised persons to enter a child care centre without consent or prior notice for the purposes of exercising monitoring powers.

3. Expands the power the Commonwealth Government has to publicise when a provider is refused approval for a new service or when other compliance action is taken, such as when conditions are applied or where an infringement notice has been issued (including the details of those actions).

If the Government determines that a provider or service is no longer eligible to receive the child care subsidy, it can move immediately to a process to suspend or cancel a provider's approval, or to impose conditions on a provider's approval. That process will involve the Government issuing a formal notice to the provider requiring a response within 28 days.

The Bill is in response to widespread public concern about the adequacy of current child safety frameworks, following a series of alarming safety investigations and incidents in the sector. In his speech to Parliament, Education Minister Clare said "…it means the Commonwealth can use the power of the childcare subsidy funding to lift the standards of providers not doing the right thing—and ensure those that aren't up to scratch don't get access to Commonwealth funding".

It is intended that the powers under the Bill will be used in close collaboration with the states and territories, noting state government regulators have the responsibility for rating centres and enforcing standards under the Education and Care Services National Law, and also have the power to shut a centre down on the spot if they think there is a real and imminent threat to safety.

Are any other changes on the horizon?

New South Wales

In May 2025, former Deputy Ombudsman, Chris Wheeler, delivered the findings of an independent review into the NSW ECEC sector which was commissioned in response to a rise in safety breaches throughout 2024. The key finding from the report was that the state’s regulator was constrained by national laws, which limited its ability to respond proportionately to serious safety breaches.

In response to the report, the NSW government announced it would proceed immediately with nation-leading reforms which prioritised child safety over provider profit, including:

• establishing a new independent regulatory authority with enhanced powers and direct accountability to the Education Minister;
• mandatory notification to families when providers are under investigation for significant breaches of national laws;
• greater transparency through the publication of service safety and quality records to help parents make informed decisions;
• trialling the installation of CCTV controlled by the regulator when safety concerns arise; and
• advocating for amendments to national laws, including increased penalties for breaches.

Commonwealth Education Minister Claire said these recommendations and more will be considered by education ministers in a meeting in August, including the possibility of a national model for working with children checks, which was recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017, but is yet to occur.

Victoria

Following the deeply concerning allegations of child sexual abuse involving Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, the Victorian Government has announced a series of urgent reforms aimed at improving safety in early childhood education settings:

• effective 26 September 2025, all Victorian child care centres must ban personal mobile devices;
• immediate needs payment for affected families;
• expansion of educator registration system to including early childhood educators, with expected implementation within two months.

There is also a Rapid Review underway, led by Jay Weatherhill AO and Pam White PSM, with findings due 15 August 2025. The review will identify immediate actions to improve child safety, including exploration of CCTV installation, strengthening the Working with Children Check framework, and information sharing between regulators and agencies.

Queensland

The Queensland Government has brought forward to 1 July 2026, application to the early childhood education and care sector of its new reportable conduct scheme. The early commencement of the scheme is in response to the case involving Ashley Paul Griffith, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2024 after pleading guilty to offences against children in Brisbane child care centres over many years.

It has also initiated a major review of its systems by the Child Death Review Board, part of Queensland Family and Child Commission, into how agencies responded to the offending. Interim reporting has recommended a national reportable conduct scheme and a national working with children check system. The final report is expected later this year.

Watch this space as we track the progress of the Bill, and actions taken by the state and territory governments.