The Infants’ Home Welcomes National Childcare Safety Reforms
On 22 August 2025, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare announced a sweeping childcare safety overhaul with a package of reforms designed to strengthen protections for children in ECEC settings.
Key measures include:
– A National Register of ECEC workers, recording qualifications, employment history and misconduct
– Mandatory national safety training for all workers
– A trial of CCTV in 300 ECEC centres
– 1,600 additional spot checks across the country
– A ban on personal mobile phones in centres from September 2025
– Tripled fines for services that breach safety standards
– Sharing of banned individuals’ names across jurisdictions
We acknowledge the importance of these reforms. Prior to this announcement, The Infants’ Home had already implemented long-standing child safe initiatives across our organisation. These include operating with staff-child ratios above regulatory requirements, ensuring all staff have undertaken training in child safety and protection, and having robust child safety and protection procedures and policies in place. Since the Child Safe Standards were introduced in 2022, extensive work has been undertaken to embed these into daily practice, and we implemented a personal mobile phone ban across all centre-based services in November 2024.
As a long-standing provider of early childhood and family services, we will continue working closely with families, regulators, and sector partners to ensure the new reforms are implemented effectively. “These reforms reflect the values we hold at The Infants’ Home,” says CEO Elizabeth Robinson. “We welcome these stronger safeguards that prioritise children’s wellbeing and support educators with additional tools and training to provide child safe environments.”
In his announcement, Minister Clare acknowledged the positive work of thousands of dedicated early childhood professionals across Australia. At The Infants’ Home, we also thank our team for their professionalism, care, and unwavering commitment to keeping every child safe while nurturing their growth and learning.
Contact: Elizabeth Robinson
Role: Chief Executive Officer