Upcoming Safety Reforms for Childcare Centers: CCTV, National Register, and Phone Restrictions

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This article contains references to child abuse.

Security cameras will be trialled at hundreds of childcare facilities across the country as work starts on building a national register of workers in the scandal-plagued sector.

Federal, state and territory education ministers met in Sydney on Friday and agreed to a suite of safety reforms in the childcare and early education sectors.

The CCTV trial involving up to 300 small and medium operators will roll out from October or November and be funded through a $189 million federal government package.

Ministers also agreed to begin work immediately on a national register of educators, with a pilot to launch in December ahead of the full rollout from February.

The register is being “built from scratch” and will require legislation to mandate that centres share information.

Other nationally agreed measures include banning mobile phones in centres from September, mandatory national child safety training for all workers and an extra 1,600 spot visits by the federal education department.

‘This is not the end’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said governments across the country must step up to restore the confidence of mums and dads in the system.

“This is not the end — it is the next thing we need to do,” he told reporters on Friday after the ministers’ meeting.

“The awful truth is this work will never end because there will always be bad people who try to poke holes in the system and find vulnerabilities.”

Brown was known to have worked at 24 facilities between 2017 and 2025.

It is legal to install CCTV in centres, apart from inside change areas and toilets.

Major providers G8 Education and Affinity Education have already committed to installing CCTV in hundreds of their for-profit centres following the allegations emerging against Brown in early July.

The NSW government also committed to trialling CCTV in childcare centres where the regulator had safety concerns following a review by former state deputy ombudsman Chris Wheeler.

But service leaders, staff, unions and parent groups raised “strong concerns” about rolling out CCTV during a Victorian review, led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and veteran public servant Pamela White.

Clare said CCTV footage protection and storage would be a focus of the trial to ensure it doesn’t become a “honey pot” for hackers, along with camera placement.

“The police tell us that this can be an important aspect in deterring bad behaviour and where bad behaviour does occur, it can be important in their investigation to catch the crooks afterwards,” he said.

The federal government has initiated compliance actions against 37 early childhood centres under laws passed by federal parliament in July.

The centres, which had not been meeting safety standards for seven years, were given six months to clean up their acts or face losing funding.

Previously agreed working-with-children check changes will also mean anyone prevented from holding a check in one state or territory will be automatically banned across the nation.

But a national check is not on the cards, and state and territory jurisdictions will continue to manage their own systems.

Readers seeking support can ring Lifeline crisis support on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25). More information is available at beyondblue.org.au and lifeline.org.au.

Anyone seeking information or support relating to sexual abuse can contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or Blue Knot on 1300 657 380.