“Although the ACT Government argues it has been on the job, clearly a decent push was needed for them to get underway with the necessary reforms to childcare,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE. 

The failures of governments across Australia to regulate the childcare industry and to protect small children presents significant challenges.

The seriously sad part is that there are so many wonderful, diligent and committed educators in the childcare sector who become tainted by relatively few failures.

The issues that were exposed after a motion by independent MLA Thomas Emerson forced the government to release a raft of papers on early childhood centres.

His motion followed the release of papers in June 2025 by the NSW government that revealed deeply concerning incidents in early childhood education and care centres.

These papers on issues within ACT Childcare centres may be accessed by the public having now been published on the website of the ACT Legislative Assembly. 

The documents may also be found through a link from Emerson’s website that carries the following disclaimer: “Content warning: some documents contain accounts of child abuse and other distressing material. Call 1800RESPECT if you need support”.

Emerson followed the publications with another motion in the Assembly in late February. He argued: “The fact is that we do have a sector currently that has allowed some bad actors and providers with skewed priorities to enter and operate in early childhood in the ACT. They are in the minority, to be sure”. 

Minority or not, protection of children in our childcare centres is paramount.

As part of his campaign for better childcare, Emerson conducted his own poll. He found 98 per cent of respondents “strongly agreed or agreed that reform is needed to ensure safety always comes first in the sector”. The respondents included 63 per cent parents or carers and 35 per cent workers in the sector.

While some academics would be able to criticise the conduct of the poll, particularly around selection bias, the overwhelming results provide a very clear indication of the sort of reform that is needed. It falls into line with reforms that have been put in place in other jurisdictions in Australia.

In questions posed on improvement and funding in the childcare sector, there was well over a 90 per cent positive response. The survey covered a range of areas about qualifications of staff, to loopholes in the Working with Vulnerable People card system, to assessments of early childhood centres, and to for-profit versus not-for-profit centres. 

Profit should never be the primary driver for childcare.

Amendments to Emerson’s motion, moved by Laura Nuttall, for the Greens, softened some of the sterner elements of the motion and were eventually supported by all members of the Legislative Assembly.

The resultant motion was gracefully accepted by Yvette Berry, the minister responsible, thanking “members in this place for their constructive discussions leading up to this debate about reforms to early childhood education policy”. 

She pointed out that “for decades, early childhood educators have been calling for a bunch of reforms which include better pay and conditions and which ultimately improve conditions and outcomes for children”. 

Her position does beg the question – if it is decades – why wasn’t action taken earlier?

Although acknowledging “there is more work to be done”, Berry did argue: “That is why the ACT government has backed early childhood educators from the get-go and has been implementing reforms for years, including through Set up for Success, which is the ACT’s early childhood strategy – the first strategy of its kind”.

Although she and her government had opposed the original motion for full transparency, she clearly had seen the writing on the wall. She wrote to Emerson before the February motion, “to provide an update on the work already in train nationally and locally to improve quality and child safety in the early childhood education and care sector, along with additional information”.

Although the ACT Government argues it has been on the job, clearly a decent push was needed for them to get underway with the necessary reforms.

Having accepted the final amendments by the Greens, the motion for improvement in childcare centres was passed without dissent.
There is now a reasonable expectation for a sensible outcome that will support so many committed childcare educators and improve confidence in the childcare sector. This work provides a great example of the Legislative Assembly working as it should.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with CityNews since 2006.