Statement attributable to Lyndal Ryan, United Workers Union Vice-President and ACT Secretary:
Incidents revealed in the release of documents on early childhood education and care in the ACT today reinforce the need for a strong regulator who holds providers accountable.
Since the predatory behaviour alleged against Joshua Dale Brown was exposed in July in Victoria last year, serious shortcomings in safeguards in early childhood education and care have been laid bare.
We have been a strong supporter of work being done across the country to fix loopholes affecting child safety, including a national register of workers, bans on mobile phones and transparency between states on working with children checks.
We believe the political leadership being shown on these issues, including by Education Minister Yvette Berry in the ACT, is resulting in meaningful positive changes.
We have also actively campaigned to end systemic understaffing in early childhood education and care when providers have used a staffing loophole known as the “under-the-roof” ratio, which has increased risks for children and educators.
We are hoping that the early childhood standard-setting authority, ACECQA, will rule on this issue shortly.
Overall we need a system where educators are trained, supported and respected so they feel confident to raise issues.
The issues raised by educators suggest systemic problems that are hard for a spot check by a regulator to fully address.
Robust fixes come back to addressing some of the fundamental issues repeatedly raised by educators: understaffing, attracting passionate, qualified educators, the linked issue of pay, and better inclusion support.