Independent MLA Thomas Emerson is calling for the ACT Government to accelerate the public release of early childhood documents following revelations by Four Corners today that almost 150 paedophiles have exploited poor regulation within the early childhood sector across Australia to access children.

More than 200,000 documents containing distressing findings about child abuse and neglect in New South Wales have been released through an order for the production of documents passed by the NSW Parliament in November 2024.

“Thousands of documents are being released by the NSW Government every week, yet the ACT Government is yet to release a single document in response to my motion from four months ago,” said Mr Emerson. 

“The lack of transparency in the ACT means good providers are being lumped in with dodgy operators. Everyone in early childhood is being tarred with the same brush, and that’s because of the Government’s resistance to scrutiny in the face of what we’re seeing play out nationally. ” 

In June 2025, ACT Labor refused to support Mr Emerson’s motion calling for the release of documents relating to serious incidents in the ACT early childhood education and care sector over the past five years, which passed with the support of the opposition and crossbench. 

However, when the documents were due to be released in September, ACT Labor teamed up with the Canberra Liberals to delay their release and significantly reduce the scope of the order, retrospectively blocking key pieces of evidence from being released including witness statements, police evidence and correspondence with complainants. 

“The major parties have made their priorities on this matter clear - and apparently the safety of children is not at the top of their list,” said Mr Emerson.

“The Minister for Education and Early Childhood claims that trust has been eroded in the early childhood sector because of this push for transparency. The reality is that trust in the sector has been eroded because poor regulation has meant paedophiles have had access to children in early childhood settings.

“Increased scrutiny is only something that dodgy operators should fear. Without appropriate scrutiny, families can’t differentiate between the good providers and the providers that should not be allowed to continue operating.”

Mr Emerson pushed back on ACT Labor’s claims that the allocation of public servants’ time to prepare the documents for release was ‘breathtaking’ and ‘perverse.’

“This is about priorities. I’d describe the major parties’ resistance to scrutiny in this area as breathtaking and perverse,” said Mr Emerson.

“The Government’s complaints about the cost of transparency are hard to stomach when they continue to waste millions of dollars elsewhere.”

During the debate on narrowing the scope of the motion, the Minister for Education and Early Childhood raised concerns that public servants were being traumatised by reading the documents captured by the order, which Mr Emerson said diminished the trauma of victims.

”Apparently ACT Labor is more concerned about the trauma experienced by public servants reading these documents than the trauma of sexually abused children and their families”, said Mr Emerson.

”It’s not good enough that families in Queanbeyan know more about what’s happening in their early childhood centres, and how they’re being regulated, than families in Canberra.

”Does the Government care more about protecting our children or protecting their own reputation?”

Media Contact

Will Devine | [email protected] | 0402183296

Background

Under the ACT Legislative Assembly’s standing order 213A, the Assembly can order government documents to be released to the public. Under a new standing order 213B, the Chief Minister can request that the scope and timeframe for an order for production of documents under standing order 213A be reduced.

Mr Emerson used standing order 213 on 24 June to order the release of documents related to serious incidents in the ACT early childhood sector. On 18 September, the Chief Minister used standing order 213B to extend the deadline and reduce the scope of Mr Emerson’s motion to capture regulatory documents only, meaning all the evidence attached to regulatory decisions will not be released.

During the debate in September, the Minister for Education and Early Childhood claimed that “trust in the sector has been eroded because of the question that has been asked in the Assembly previously,” referencing Mr Emerson’s push for the release of documents.

The Attorney-General also said in relation to Mr Emerson’s motion: “We already know from other 213As and even FOIs, that there is a lot of effort put into working out what can be provided, getting that done in time and then nothing. The scrutiny that was sought, the documents are not even read, and this is just perverse.” She continued, “Constantly demanding that we build more, do more, find more, better resource things more, and then having 18 to 20 FTE on a document search, working through some pretty difficult material, I would expect, and potentially putting people through vicarious trauma, probably unnecessarily in many cases, really does not sit well with me. Again, I find the dissonance in this place breathtaking.”

You can read the Hansard here.

You can read the Standing Orders here.