Victorian families continue to be failed by the Allan Labor Government as the catastrophic loopholes of Victoria’s Working With Children Check (WWCC) system continue to be exposed.
Thanks to a motion moved by the Nationals and Liberals in the Legislative Council last month, the Ombudsman will conduct a full investigation into the performance of the Quality Assessment Regulation Division (QARD) – the body responsible for monitoring safety and compliance in early childhood education and care.
The Nationals’ Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, said an independent investigation into the regulator was a vital step in addressing the systemic failures that have exposed Victoria’s most vulnerable to grave risk for far too long.
“The Allan Labor Government’s repeated inaction, despite warnings from the Ombudsman in a 2022 report, has completely shattered trust in the system that is meant to keep children safe,” Mr Cameron said.
“For three years Labor knew there were serious, widespread deficiencies in QARD’s oversight and enforcement mechanisms, and for three years it did nothing.
“Rather than establishing an apolitical, truly independent, and wide-ranging review to fully investigate the failures in Victoria’s childcare system, Labor deliberately narrowed its scope to avoid scrutiny.
“Shamefully, the government’s own review excludes any assessment of the performance and governance of the childcare regulator – a blatant attempt to dodge accountability and conceal government failings.”
The Ombudsman will consider the following:
- Alarming reports of child sexual abuse linked to one individual who worked across at least 24 childcare centres, prompting over 2,000 children to undergo testing;
- The failure of the Allan Labor Government to act on a 2022 Ombudsman report that described Victoria’s Working With Children Check system as among the weakest in the nation;
- The lack of mandatory training for applicants and the absence of a centralised register of childcare educators to strengthen oversight;
- A 45 per cent increase in complaints to QARD since 2018, while enforcement actions have plummeted by 67 per cent over the same period;
- The exclusion of QARD from the Allan Labor Government’s Rapid Child Safety Review.
“The system is broken, and now is the time for urgent action to prioritise the safety of children.
“Only the Nationals and Liberals are committed to protecting our children.”
