STILL UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR UNIVERSAL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

The shocking revelations about child safety in market driven sectors of early childhood education and care is an example of how the slow, staged reform process envisaged by Working for Women can be disrupted and reinforces the need for ongoing broad consultation and feminist advocacy.

During the first 2025 sitting, the government rushed through legislation to revoke funding from childcare providers that breach the law, fail to meet the National Quality Standard on safety and quality, or operate in ways that endanger children. Commonwealth officers can now conduct unannounced spot-checks to detect fraud and non-compliance across the sector.

Yet governance of the sector remains fragmented across the Commonwealth, states and territories. WEL supports calls from advocacy group, the Parenthood and others for the establishment of an independent National Commission to ensure the quality, integrity and safety of the ECEC system.

From a longer term perspective, the shape of the government’s proposed universal early childhood education and care system remains unclear following a Productivity Commission Inquiry recommending adjustments to childcare subsidies but within the context of the present market driven framework dominated by for profit providers.

We are not confident that the just announced government commission of private consulting giant Deloitte to help design a universal childcare system will produce the ECEC equivalent of Medibank/ Medicare, a system designed by experts and public servants and driven by visionary Ministers.

The Commonwealth Department of Education has stated that the object of the project is to review the costs of delivering ECEC.

The engagement of Deloitte to undertake a data gathering exercise on delivery costs testifies to the immense complexity of the current market-based system and the slow road to a transformation which puts the interests of children and parents first. Listen to Professor Deb Brennan outline the challenges ahead in a recent interview with Fran Kelly HERE. 

Read our full August 2025 WEL-Informed newsletter HERE.