Childcare safety legislation ‘one part’ of reforms says minister
The education minister, Jason Clare, says he’s working with states and territories to look at developing a national educator register for childcare workers and regulations for CCTV in centres.
Today the government will introduce legislation to strip childcare subsidy funding for centres that repeatedly fail their safety requirements. Clare tells ABC News Breakfast the threshold could be “as simple as one” strike for a centre for its subsidy funding to be stripped.
It could be as simple as one [strike]. It is important to make a point that regulators can shut a centre right now if they think there is a serious threat to children’s safety but this will give us the power to issue a … notice to a centre and say we will shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard, or to set conditions on them as well.
Clare says this is just “one part” of the work that needs to be done.
We’ll be talking at that [state and territory ministers] meeting about a national educator register so we contract workers from centre to centre, as well from state to state, I think that what is happening in Victoria shows the weakness in that area, but also the role that CCTV can play in deterring people doing bad things and police investigations but most important of all, mandatory child safety training.
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Updated at 23.07 BST
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David Littleproud says he’s “relaxed” over Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack pushing for the Nationals to abandon net zero, and says the policy is a decision of the whole partyroom.
The Nationals leader tells Sky News he has “real concerns” about net zero, and has asked Matt Canavan, a vocal net zero critic, and Ross Cadell to review the policy.
I’m open, and that’s why I started this process, and wanted to make sure that we do this calmly and methodically and understanding the human toll, the economic toll, the social toll this is having on our communities. I don’t think people in metropolitan areas understand and appreciate exactly the burden you’re asking us to bare.
McCormack, a former Nationals leader told The Australian on Wednesday that he will back Joyce’s private member’s bill to scrap net zero, and refused to rule out a Nationals leadership challenge.
Asked whether he’d be able to hold the leadership, Littleproud says he’s “comfortable in his own skin” and “relaxed”.
I was the leader, the first leader to have the political courage to say no to the voice. I was the first leader in our history to have the courage to get nuclear energy into our coalition policy setting. I was the first leader to get divestiture powers into our coalition policy…
I don’t wake up in the morning worrying about [a leadership challenge]. If you do that, if you focus on yourself, then you’re not focused on what you’re trying to achieve.
ShareJosh Butler
Clare flags later meeting to address wider range of issues in childcare sector
Back to the early education safety press conference: the education minister, Jason Clare, says today’s federal parliament bill deals mostly with cutting funding and increasing spot checks at underperforming centres, measures he called a “stick” to encourage providers to lift their game.
But he said a meeting of state and territory education ministers next month would look to a wider range of issues, including whether to offer more training and support to centres, examining more CCTV rollouts in childcare, and the long-discussed national database or register of childcare workers.
The early education minister, Jess Walsh, said more had to be done on “helping those providers to lift their game”.
Clare conceded that today’s federal legislation “isn’t the only thing we need to do”, noting the need for a national register to track workers from centre to centre and across states.
The minister also said a separate meeting of state and territory attorneys general, also held next month, would look at reforms to working with children checks – which Clare said were “overdue”.
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Updated at 23.30 BST
Algal bloom inquiry raised as questions raised about future
Parliament could soon hold an inquiry into the algal bloom crisis in South Australia, to look at how the government should deal with a similar environmental disaster in the future.
Ross Cadell, a Nationals senator and shadow minister for water, has been among those pushing for an inquiry, and told RN Breakfast this morning it would help to “come up with the methods of how we can deal with something of this size”.
Cadell says he won’t be “overly critical” of the federal government in it’s response to the bloom, but believes the state government was slow to act.
I think they’ve [the government] come together to try and make this inquiry and see how we can do better. I don’t think they’ve got the tools at their hands under the current guidelines of what a natural disaster is, what emergency response is, to naturally fit this, so part of the inquiry is looking fit for purpose of the future.
I think South Australian government probably was a bit slow to react…but I’m not going to be critical. This is people suffering. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers.
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Updated at 23.24 BST
Minister says reforms should have happened ‘yesterday’
Jumping back to the government’s presser on childcare, state and territory education ministers will meet next month to establish a national educators register, and Jason Clare says that “can’t happen fast enough”.
Work is already being done by the states, including Victoria, to establish state based registers, but Clare says there needs to be a nationally consistent register.
The truth is, this should have happened yesterday, and this can’t happen fast enough, and states are already taking steps to expand their existing teacher registers, Victoria is a good example of that.
So where states do that, that’s good, but we need to join it up, because to make the system work the way it needs to work, we need to be able to track people, not just from centre to centre, but from state to state.
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Updated at 23.15 BST
Ley says Coalition will support childcare reforms
Childcare reforms are “above politics” says the opposition leader, Sussan Ley.
Speaking to Sky News, Ley says she’ll discuss the Hecs and childcare reforms with her party room, but the Coalition has said it will support both.
I’m pleased with the government’s efforts around child care, because it’s too important to get that wrong, and I have said we want to be above politics in the interests of caring for families. We’ve just been horrified at these stories.
Ley adds that while the Coalition will work “constructively” on these two pieces of legislation, that doesn’t mean a “blank cheque of goodwill for everything that comes across the table from the Labor party.”
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Updated at 23.06 BST
Reforms not about ‘shutting centres down’: Clare
Jason Clare, Jess Walsh and skills minister Andrew Giles are standing up in parliament to talk about the Hecs and childcare legislation being introduced today.
Clare says funding is the “biggest weapon” the commonwealth has to crack down on standards within the childcare sector.
It’s something like $16bn a year, and that covers about 70% of the cost of running the average childcare centre, childcare centres can’t operate without it. And I think it’s fair. I think most mums and dads will think it’s fair that if centres are repeatedly not meeting the sort of standards that we set for them, that we should have the power to be able to cut that funding off.
This is not about shutting centres down. It’s about lifting standards up and giving us the powers to make that happen.
As we mentioned earlier, Clare said this is one part of the reforms the government is looking at. The education minister will meet with his state and territory counterparts next month, and will look at establishing a national educator register.
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Updated at 22.58 BST
Questions raised as to timing of removal of childcare subsidies in event of breach
There are still questions over when a childcare service would be stripped of its subsidy funding.
Childcare minister Jess Walsh is on RN Breakfast this morning, and is asked when the legislation would be used – whether for failing to meet standards or when there is an actual incident.
Walsh says the government can issue a “show cause” notice for “repeat offenders”, which would require a service to show the government why they should maintain their funding.
The legislation gives us the ability to put all of that information and for the secretary of my department to make a decision to identify those repeat offenders, those providers, those services that persistently and consistently fail to meet standards and fail to keep our children safe …
We can start by issuing a show cause notice as to why that provider, that service, should maintain their commonwealth funding through the childcare subsidy. And we can make that show cause notice public.
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Updated at 22.52 BST
Coldplay couple: everything is ‘on camera’, Albanese says
The prime minister has weighed into the story that’s taken the globe by storm … I’m of course talking about the Coldplay couple caught on a kiss cam.
“You can’t get away from it!” said the PM, dialling into KIIS fm this morning, but he said it just shows how everything can be recorded.
It’s just a reminder that everything you do these days is on camera, no matter who you are, whether you’re a public figure or just this couple, obviously, [a] couple that weren’t supposed to be a couple at a Coldplay concert, and they ended up, the whole world knows who they are now, so I think [it’s] a wake up call.
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Updated at 23.08 BST
Childcare safety legislation ‘one part’ of reforms says minister
The education minister, Jason Clare, says he’s working with states and territories to look at developing a national educator register for childcare workers and regulations for CCTV in centres.
Today the government will introduce legislation to strip childcare subsidy funding for centres that repeatedly fail their safety requirements. Clare tells ABC News Breakfast the threshold could be “as simple as one” strike for a centre for its subsidy funding to be stripped.
It could be as simple as one [strike]. It is important to make a point that regulators can shut a centre right now if they think there is a serious threat to children’s safety but this will give us the power to issue a … notice to a centre and say we will shut it within 28 days unless they meet that minimum standard, or to set conditions on them as well.
Clare says this is just “one part” of the work that needs to be done.
We’ll be talking at that [state and territory ministers] meeting about a national educator register so we contract workers from centre to centre, as well from state to state, I think that what is happening in Victoria shows the weakness in that area, but also the role that CCTV can play in deterring people doing bad things and police investigations but most important of all, mandatory child safety training.
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Updated at 23.07 BST
Ley won’t weigh into Nationals leadership
The net zero debate is still alive and kicking within the Coalition with some Nationals agitating loudly for the policy to be abandoned.
Sussan Ley is on the Today Show this morning and says her energy minister Dan Tehan is looking at all energy policies.
But the debate also puts a question mark over the leadership of David Littleproud – a supporter of net zero. Among those arcing up is Barnaby Joyce, who wants to introduce a bill to abandon net zero, and the former leader Michael McCormack.
Ley says she has a good relationship with all the Nats, and will let them “speak up for themselves”.
The leader of the Nationals is a matter for their party room and I’ll leave that to them. And as I said at the beginning, Karl [Stefanovic], these three blokes speak up pretty well for themselves. And I’m sure they’ll do that.
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Updated at 22.33 BST
Jonathan Barrett
Australians lodge more than 100,000 financial complaints
Australians have filed more than 100,000 complaints against their financial institutions for the second year in a row, with insurance and financial advice issues surging, according to the financial ombudsman.
Fiscal year data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) shows that the three most complained about financial products were personal transaction accounts, motor vehicle insurance and credit cards.
Consumers also regularly raised complaints over misleading product or service information, delays in insurance claim handling, and service quality.
The chief ombudsman at AFCA, David Locke, said the number of complaints was “unacceptably high”.
We’ve now had three years of high complaints… Firms have more work to do to ensure fair responses to complaints are delivered earlier, without people having to take the extra step of coming to us.
AFCA is an independent external dispute resolution scheme consumers go to if a problem can’t be resolved with their financial institution.
The 100,745 complaints lodged in 2024-25 represent a slight decline from last year’s record of 104,861, although the number remains elevated.
Locke said that while scam-related complaints fell, the number of cases was “far too high and behind every case is a consumer who has been traumatised and often suffered life changing impacts”.
This evil trade causes so much human harm, and the law and regulatory framework we currently have is not sufficient to address this. Industry should not wait to take action; every day we see the impact of more people affected.
While the parliament passed a scams prevention framework earlier this year, industry codes of practice are still being developed.
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Childcare safety bill due to be introduced today
The federal government will introduce its childcare safety bill to parliament today. It was previously expected to arrive on Thursday, but the timeline has moved up.
We don’t have specifics on what the bill will set out yet – but there will a press conference from education minister Jason Clare and early education minister Jess Walsh this morning, and we’ll bring you more from that shortly.
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Updated at 22.22 BST
O’Neil says she is ‘desperate’ to get on top of childcare safety reforms
There are a few reforms on the table to help fix the childcare sector, with the first being legislation to strip childcare subsidy funding for centres that repeatedly fail their safety requirements.
Next month there will also be a meeting of state and territory education ministers, as well as a meeting of state and territory attorneys general, where there will be discussion of further reform.
Why wait until next month for those meetings? The government was asked that this morning, but frontbencher Clare O’Neil says the work is already being undertaken. O’Neil told Sunrise she’s “desperate” to see the reforms pass:
The working with children checks are of course a part of this and the attorneys general across the country are working together … to make sure that we fast-track this. So that meeting next month will be to finalise some of that work. It is already under way. It’s really critical that we get on top of this.
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Updated at 22.15 BST
Good morning from Krishani
Krishani Dhanji here with you to take you through all things politics today, and a big thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
Parliamentary business kicks into full swing today, after a largely ceremonial opening of the 48th parliament yesterday.
Childcare reforms and Hecs debt cuts will be top of the agenda, and we’ll see our first question time, with Sussan Ley taking the chair opposite Anthony Albanese.
Stick with us, it’s going to be a busy day!
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Updated at 22.09 BST
Experts say reforms needed as Queensland begins child protection inquiry
Brave reforms are needed to protect the most neglected, abused and disadvantaged kids from a “harmful” child protection system, advocates say.
Calls for transformational change have been made before a Queensland government-backed child safety system inquiry that begins in Brisbane today, AAP reports.
The inquiry, which is expected to last 17 months and cost $20m, will investigate the system’s failures and the damage it has caused, and will recommend changes to better protect vulnerable children.
Queensland had more than 3,000 children living in out-of-home care in 2024, many with traumatic backgrounds and needs not being met by the child safety system.
Elements of the state’s child protection system were not fit for purpose and harmful to children and families, Queensland’s family and children commissioner, Luke Twyford said.
“This inquiry can produce the bold and transformational reform needed to deliver better outcomes for Queensland children and families,” he said.
The inquiry must listen to children, young people and families with experience of the system and take action on what they said, Twyford said.
“They know best how the system performs and the changes needed to deliver on the promise the system makes to keep children safe,” he said.
The Youth Advocacy Centre’s chief executive, Katherine Hayes, said significant system change was urgently needed to improve the lives of vulnerable children facing the “most awful circumstances” every day without the proper assistance of child safety.
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One dead and one hospitalised after Sydney jet ski crash
Breaking out of politics for a moment: A teenage boy has died and another is in hospital in a critical condition after a jet ski crash in Sydney, AAP reports.
Emergency crews were called to Tom Uglys Bridge in Sylvania, in Sydney’s south, just after 6pm last night after reports of people floating in the water.
A 15-year-old boy was found deceased in the water and was unable to be revived, police said.
A 14-year-old boy was treated at the scene for a severed arm and taken to Sydney Children’s hospital by paramedics. He was in a critical condition last night.
A crime scene has been established and investigations into the crash have begun.
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It was a rather more gentle introduction for Ali France, the new Labor MP who defeated Peter Dutton at the last election, who gave a very moving, personal maiden speech about the obstacles she has overcome on her way to becoming an MP.
We have a story right here:
And some video of that speech:
‘Fighting for fair is in my blood’: Ali France’s poignant first speech as Labor MP – videoShare
It’s been a baptism of fire for the Australian Greens leader, Larissa Waters, who has begun her first parliamentary session in the top job with an internal crisis over the expulsion of co-founder Drew Hutton.
When asked last night on ABC’s 7.30 about the exact reasons for Hutton’s defenestration from the party, Waters said that she had not read the relevant documentation and that it had been dealt with “by the party”.
Full story here:
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will take the controls.
Larissa Waters is likely to face more questions today about the Greens’ handling of the expulsion of co-founder Drew Hutton. She told the ABC’s 7.30 last night that she had not read the relevant documentation on the case and had left the process “to the party”. More coming up.
An inquiry into Queensland’s child safety system begins in Brisbane today with calls for transformational change to better protect vulnerable children. The inquiry, which is expected to last 17 months and cost an estimated $20m, will investigate the system’s failures and the damage it has caused and will recommend changes. We have more coming up and we’ll bring you updates when it gets under way later this morning.
Parliament will resume as Labor takes the first steps to implement its second term agenda. The education minister, Jason Clare, is due to deliver on Labor’s election promise by introducing legislation to the lower house to slash university debt for three million Australians by 20%.
Plus the national parliament’s first question time in more than 100 days! What a treat.
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