Independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson MLA is today outlining five initial calls for reform to improve children’s safety in the ACT’s early childhood education and care sector. This comes after he ordered the release of thousands of government documents revealing loopholes and inadequate regulatory action that have put children at risk.
Mr Emerson is also seeking community feedback on further reform opportunities through an online survey, which is open until Monday 9 February 2026.
Mr Emerson indicated that he would be calling on the ACT Government to:
- Update the ACT’s Early Childhood Strategy with a renewed focus on children’s safety;
- Introduce land use reforms to prevent the unchecked corporatisation of the sector and safeguard the viability of community-run centres;
- Close loopholes in the ACT’s Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) scheme;
- Increase resourcing for the regulator to boost its compliance functions; and
- Impose fines for egregious or repeated child safety breaches.
Mr Emerson said his initial calls for reform had been developed through consultation with the sector and Canberran families over the last six months.
“These reforms are uncontroversial. They’re things we should be doing already,” Mr Emerson said.
“Our regulatory system has allowed dodgy operators to put children at risk of serious harm.
“It’s completely unacceptable that children are experiencing abuse and neglect in places responsible for their care.
“The Government has been privy to the issues exposed through this document release, and has chosen to leave those issues unresolved.
“It’s time to take the steps necessary to actually put children first – without exception.
“We need to create a system where the best practice seen at our top early learning centres becomes standard practice across the board.
“The ACT’s Early Childhood Strategy only mentions children’s safety once, without promising any tangible action to improve it. Given what we now know about what’s happening in some centres, this strategy needs updating with a renewed focus on child safety.
“Current land use policy settings have allowed major corporate for-profits to cannibalise small community-run centres, with disastrous consequences for children. That needs to change.
“Loopholes in our Working With Vulnerable People scheme need to be closed as a matter of urgency. A system that relies on people with malintent to self-report cannot be expected to protect children from abuse.
“It’s also clear that we need to ramp up the regulator’s compliance functions, which will require appropriate resourcing.”
Mr Emerson said it was alarming that the ACT’s early childhood regulator, Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA), had not issued a single fine in the last five years despite the significant breaches that had been revealed by the documents released through his June 2025 motion.
“It’s unsurprising that safety issues have persisted when the regulator has been so light-handed,” Mr Emerson said.
“Caution notices and second chances might be appropriate at times, but particularly egregious incidents and repeated failures must be met with genuine consequences.”
Mr Emerson said he would continue consulting on a larger package of potential reforms to bring to the Assembly, and is asking community members to provide their input by completing his survey at:
https://app.sli.do/event/kuB3gB9YBsiadbe5XryYu8/embed/polls/538e0153-12d9-49c8-8bd3-3c791e136e8a