Australian news and politics live: Jason Clare announces national childcare overhaul for kids’ safety

Education Minister Jason Clare also announced that parents will soon receive more detailed information about the conditions of the childcare centres their children attend, as part of a broader package of childcare safety reforms.

A major component of the reforms will be enhanced regulation, including an additional 1600 surprise inspections by the Federal Department of Education.

While the primary aim of these spot checks will be to crack down on fraud, Mr Clare said they will also play a critical role in identifying safety concerns across different centres.

“Is it everything we need to do? No, of course not. But it is the next step, and one we’ve agreed to take today. I want to sincerely thank all of my state and territory colleagues for their support,” he said.

The announcement follows disturbing allegations of child abuse at childcare centres, which Mr Clare said had left Australians “shocked and sickened.”

Education Minister Jason Clare has revealed the major changes to childcare safety after a crucial meeting with the country’s education ministers.

Speaking to reporters, Clare announced that ministers have agreed to roll out national mandatory child safety training as well as a national register of childcare workers.

“On the national register, work on that will begin immediately...it will require changes to the national law and legislation and we will pilot that in December of this year with it rolling up from February of next year,” Mr Clare said.

The child safety training will rollout from next year.

He also announced a banning of mobile phones from September and a trial of CCTV in 300 childcare centres, starting in October.

“We have all got to step up here if we are serious about keeping our kids safe, that means the Australian Government stepping up, states and territories stepping up and regulators stepping up, and it means the people who run our centres stepping up as well,” he said.

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Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the Liberal Party must modernise and broaden its appeal if it wants a path back to government, declaring Queensland the centrepiece of its strategy.

“Friends, we cannot win government unless we win Queensland; this state is not only our heartland, it’s also our launchpad,” she told the LNP state convention in Queensland on Friday

“Peter Dutton’s work built a legacy of strength. Our task is to honour that legacy not by looking backward, but by winning back Dickson and every other seat we lost,” she said.

“Too many voters, particularly in our urban centres, could not see themselves in today’s Liberal Party. That must change. We must modernise.”

She also backed lifting the nuclear energy prohibition while taking aim at Labor’s tax record.

“When Labor talks, Australians pay, and when they run out of money, they come after yours,” she said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has launched her strongest attack yet on Anthony Albanese’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, calling it one of the “most reckless foreign policy calls in living memory.”

Speaking at the LNP state convention in Queensland, Ms Ley accused the government of undermining Australia’s alliance with the United States and “inviting praise from a listed terrorist organisation.”

“When terrorists are cheering your foreign policy, you know you’ve got it wrong,” she said.

“We all want the war to end, we all want Israeli hostages released, and we all want food and aid to reach those in need.

“But the path to that is through negotiation, security, and a genuine two-state process, not through unilateral gestures that make peace less likely.”

Liberal Senator Jane Hume has indicated the Coalition will likely support Labor’s planned overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, arguing reform is needed to keep the program sustainable.

Appearing alongside Health Minister Mark Butler, Senator Hume said Butler was “right” to explore ways of reducing pressure on the $46 billion scheme, including shifting children with mild to moderate developmental delay or autism into new community‑based programs.

“Even though there is bipartisan support for the NDIS, that it’s a system that we should be really proud of in Australia, it has run out of control,” Hume told Sunrise on Friday morning.

“I’m thrilled that Mark has stepped up here because something has to be done … at first blush, this is something that I think that we should be able to support. I’m happy to talk about this in my party room to make sure Mark gets the support he needs.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has not ruled out further changes to the tax system, saying that any potential reforms would ultimately be decided in consultation with his cabinet colleagues.

His comments come as the government begins work on introducing a road user charge for electric vehicles.

“Well, I think again, that’s that’s a matter for the cabinet,” Dr Chalmers told ABC AM when asked if Australians could expect changes to the tax system not already proposed by Labor.

“I want to be respectful to the views raised in the room at the economic reform roundtable, but at the end of the day, as I said, before the timing of any other tax changes, it would be a matter for me to determine with my cabinet colleagues.”

Dr Chalmers repeated that the government’s income tax cuts remain Labor’s “highest priority” while also pointing to the importance of the EV road user charge.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says this week’s economic roundtable has laid the groundwork for lifting Australia’s slowing productivity, stressing that the progress made will pay off in the long term.

“I think we’re just being upfront with people and saying, this is a problem in our economy,” Dr Chalmers told ABC AM radio.

“It will take time to turn around, but the progress and momentum and the consensus that was built over the course of the last few days will help.”

Chalmers said the consensus reached at the summit would “absolutely” improve productivity, though he did not nominate a timeline for major reforms.

Sydney commuters are being warned to take extreme caution on the roads on Friday morning as a thick blanket of fog covers the city.

On Friday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning to residents in Sydney of reduced visibility as heavy fog envelopes the Greater Sydney area.

“Reduced visibility in fog will make road conditions dangerous during Friday morning in the Greater Sydney area,” the warning read.

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Mandatory child safety training and a national register of carers will be on the agenda at a crucial meeting of Australia’s education ministers.

The federal government is set to table $189 million worth of funding over four years to tackle problems in the under-fire sector, describing it as the biggest child safety package the early learning sector has ever seen.

Backing up recent tweaks to working-with-children checks, which made bans nationally applicable, federal minister Jason Clare wants a register that will let regulators see who’s working in childcare centres and where.

Asked if this would address issues with people failing a working with children check in one state and going to another state to get a job, Mr Clare said work was being done on that issue.

“If we get approval today, work will start immediately,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Friday.

“We’ve got to build that (register) from scratch - we will have to pass laws to make it mandatory for centres to put the information in.”

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State and Territory leaders say they were blindsided by Federal Health Minister Mark Butler’s new “Thriving Kids” program, which will provide early support for children with mild to moderate autism, rather than those kids being on the NDIS.

“We have been talking about this for two years and I’ve got two particularly big pieces of feedback for them,” Mr Butler told Sunrise.

“Firstly, they wanted the Commonwealth to take more of a leadership role so we would have a nationally consistent system instead of eight different systems in every State and Territory and they wanted us to commit funding on an ongoing basis rather than just for five years. This week I’ve done both of those things.

“Now, the job for all of us is to get to work and start to build the system to help parents ensure their kids thrive.”

“Of course they want details, parents want, service providers want details and that’s what I’ve committed to working with them on over the coming months... We want to play a leadership role here.”