Hundreds of WA childcare centres failing to meet standards as politicians across country focus on child safety

Hundreds of West Australian childcare centres either don’t meet minimum quality standards or are yet to be rated as politicians across the country focus on child safety after horrific allegations of sexual abuse by a Victorian educator. The State has the lowest proportion of centres that exceed the minimum standards, and none of its almost 1500 childcare services are rated “excellent”. There are 103 long day care services in WA with no quality rating and 110 rated as “working towards” the minimum standards, out of 914 centres, the latest government data reveals. Education Minister Jason Clare has flagged new laws will be put to Parliament this month to pull federal funding from childcare services that persistently fail to meet safety and quality standards. It’s part of a raft of measures governments are looking at after Victorian man Joshua Dale Brown was charged with dozens of child sex offences allegedly committed against eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre in Melbourne, with a further 1200 children who were under his care over eight years asked to undergo testing. The WA Government has ordered a snap review of child safety in the State in light of the allegations. A national ban on the use of personal mobile phones and other devices in centres comes into effect in September, and some jurisdictions are contemplating mandating CCTV or line-of-sight requirements. Attorneys-general are also set to harmonise the rules around working with children checks. Some of the measures were set in train last year following the jailing of one of Australia’s worst pedophiles, Ashley Paul Griffith, who was given a life sentence after pleading guilty to hundreds of offences. Mr Clare said the work was difficult, but he knew people weren’t interested in hearing excuses. “The truth is here, there’s no silver bullet,” he said. “There’s a whole bunch of things that we need to do, and this work will never end.” A number of serious incidents have been uncovered at childcare centres across WA over the past couple of years, including four workers charged since November 2023 over allegations of abuse. Aspire Early Education and Kindergarten Baldivis was fined $45,000 this week for inadequately supervising a two-year-old child who was found alone on the side of a busy road. Last month, Busy Bees Mirrabooka was fined $16,000 after staff left a toddler alone and unsupervised when they locked up and left early. Australian Childcare Alliance WA chief executive Rachelle Tucker said parents should remember, as they read the “deeply distressing” allegations, that “the overwhelming majority of services and educators are wholly committed to providing safe, nurturing, and high-quality environments for children”. She was pleased to see governments fast-tracking national working-with-children checks and also called for a national employment register to allow services to see “if a potential staff member has been moving from site to site in concerning circumstances”. Independent senator Fatima Payman has called for the Government to move quickly on adopting Productivity Commission recommendations about strengthening child safety, including increasing funding to regulators. “These are not one-off tragedies,” she said. “Families are right to expect that their government will do everything possible to keep children safe. We cannot wait for another horrific headline.” There are almost 132,000 children enrolled in care services in WA, with almost 79,000 in daycare centres. The national quality framework and standards were introduced in 2012. While the Commonwealth funds the sector, largely through fee subsidies worth about $3.4 billion annually, State regulators are responsible for assessment and enforcement. In WA, 80.5 per cent of all services meet minimum standards. Another 4.5 per cent exceed the standards – although this proportion is higher for daycare services, with almost 7 per cent. Services are rated as “working towards” the standards if they are deemed to provide a safe care program but need to improve in at least one area. In WA, 13.5 per cent of daycare services, 17 per cent of outside school hours care, 24 per cent of family day care and 38.5 per cent of kindergartens had a “working towards” rating. None were deemed to require significant improvements, the lowest rating. Ms Tucker, from the ACA WA, said there needed to be ongoing support for services that were working towards the quality standards to help them improve. She said WA was fortunate to have a sector that was, overall, performing strongly. “These (working towards NQS) numbers are not unusual in a sector that is facing significant workforce shortages and increasing regulatory demands, but they do highlight that there is still work to do,” she said. “Importantly, while quality assessment and ratings are vital, we must remember that this is just one part of a much broader picture of child safety. A strong child-safe culture is built on daily practice, meaningful leadership, community partnerships, and the voices of children being heard and respected.” The Independent Education Union, which represents childcare workers, said it was vital not to rush out quick solutions that didn’t tackle complex, underlying issues such as chronic workforce shortages. NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews also pointed to research showing centres run by non-profit providers consistently achieved higher quality ratings. “The business model of for-profit providers needs reform – the focus on profits rather than high-quality education and care is a big reason behind safety breaches,” she said.