The Victorian Greens say it’s clear Victoria’s childcare system is in crisis, and while they welcome the recommendations of the Rapid Child Safety Review, they stress these reforms are long overdue.
The Ombudsman recommended urgent changes to the Working with Children Check more than three years ago. The Greens say it should never have taken a full-blown crisis for Labor to act only once it became unavoidable.
The Greens have been calling for an independent regulator and welcome its establishment, but warn the real test now is whether the regulator has the teeth, independence and funding to stand up to powerful for-profit corporations that cut corners and put profits ahead of children’s safety.
The Labor Government has today admitted that the childcare sector has been completely reshaped by for-profit corporations. The Greens say this exposes a fundamental contradiction – Labor claims child safety will come first under these reforms, but when the system is run by corporations, profits will always be the priority.
The Greens say Labor has broken families’ trust by ignoring red flags, dragging their feet on urgent reforms, and keeping the full scale of the problem secret. They stress that what matters now is urgency, transparency, and funding to make sure these reforms deliver real change, not just another review that gathers dust.
Quotes attributable to the Victorian Greens spokesperson for Early Childhood, Anasina Gray-Barberio:
“It’s clear our childcare system is in crisis, and Labor ignored the warning signs for years and the trust has been completely broken.
“Labor has admitted the childcare system has been reshaped by corporate for-profit providers – so how can anyone believe that children’s safety will ever be their priority?
“The real test is whether Labor gives this new regulator the independence, teeth and funding to hold these corporations to account – because that’s what Victorian families deserve.”
