Governments across Australia are working together to strengthen safety, improve quality, and protect children in early childhood education and care (ECEC).
On this page:
Working together
Shared responsibilities
Federal, state and territory governments share responsibility for quality and safety in ECEC.
Learn more about shared responsibilities
National Quality Framework
The National Quality Framework (NQF) is Australia’s system for regulating ECEC. It provides a national approach to regulation, assessment and quality improvement.
National commitment
On 22 August 2025, Education Ministers from across Australia attended a special purpose meeting on child safety in ECEC. Education Ministers agreed that:
- ensuring the safety and wellbeing of every child in ECEC is a shared national priority
- dedicated, committed educators are our greatest asset for the care, education and safety of our children
- a range of joint actions are essential to strengthen quality and safety in ECEC.
Joint actions
In coordinated action with state and territories, the Australian Government has agreed to a comprehensive package of reforms to strengthen quality and safety in ECEC. These actions address recommendations from:
- Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority's (ACECQA) child safety review
- Victoria’s rapid child safety review
- NSW’s review into the regulatory authority.
Explore the joint actions by theme below. We will regularly update this page as the actions progress.
Workforce oversight
National Educator Register
A new register will give regulators clear visibility of who is working in the sector and where.
It will collect and maintain information about all staff working in ECEC, including their:
- identity
- training and qualifications
- working with children checks.
Ministers agreed to mandate use of the register through National Law.
The register will be further developed into a national educator registration scheme.
It will be built by ACECQA.
Testing will start in December 2025, with national rollout from February 2026.
Working with children checks
National Law and Regulations will be updated to mandate that:
- staff must have a valid working with children check (WWCC) before starting any work in ECEC
- providers report any changes to a WWCC status to the regulator
- providers report any changes to teacher accreditation status to the regulator.
This will be in place in early 2026, pending the passage of legislation.
Proactive information sharing
National Law and Regulations will be updated to mandate that regulators must proactively share with providers the identity of:
- prohibited individuals
- individuals subject to enforceable undertakings.
This will be in place in early 2026, pending the passage of legislation.
Training and conduct
Mandatory child safety training
All staff, volunteers and students will be required to complete national child safety training.
The Australian Centre for Child Protection will develop the training. It will be free, and the Australian Government will subsidise wage costs. Wage subsidy grants will be available for small to medium providers operating up to 25 services.
Training will be available and mandatory from early 2026. Grants will be available from 1 July 2026.
Inappropriate conduct
National Law and Regulations will be updated to establish ‘inappropriate conduct’ as an offence for all staff and volunteers.
This will be in place in early 2026, pending the passage of legislation.
Technology and onsite safety
Mobile device restrictions
On 1 July 2024 ACECQA released a National Model Code to promote a child safe culture when it comes to taking, sharing and storing images or videos of children in ECEC.
Read the National Model Code and Guidelines
From 1 September 2025 all states will ban or restrict the use of personal devices while working directly with children.
National CCTV assessment
A national assessment will explore the use of CCTV in ECEC. The assessment will involve up to 300 services and will:
- have a strong focus on ethics, safety and transparency
- take place in a range of service types, including those in regional, rural, and remote communities.
The assessment will provide a robust evidence base to inform nationally consistent best practice guidance on using CCTV in ECEC.
The Australian Centre for Child Protection and ACECQA will provide expert guidance and oversight.
The assessment will start this year. A final report will be provided to Education Ministers in 2026.
Rapid assessment of safeguarding practices
ACECQA will run a rapid assessment into safeguarding practices. The assessment will examine how practices can be strengthened to enhance child safety.
This will involve reviewing how current requirements under the NQF are operationalised, including considering how services use the ‘under the roof’ approach.
A report will be shared with Education Ministers by December 2025.
Compliance and regulatory action
Australian Government-led unannounced site visits
Recently strengthened laws allow Australian Government authorised officers to conduct unannounced service visits and compliance checks.
Site visits will start in November 2025.
State-led assessment and ratings visits
To ensure compliance with the National Quality Standards, state and territory regulators will:
- assess and rate services on average every 3 years
- assess and rate ‘working towards’ services more frequently.
This will be in place in early 2026, pending the passage of legislation.
Joint regulation expansion
The Australian Government will increase joint regulation with the states and territories, including:
- expanding the Joint Compliance Monitoring Program
- improving data exchange.
Find out more about joint regulation
Tripling penalties
Current penalties aren’t a strong enough deterrent and are not commensurate with other care industries.
Maximum penalties under the National Law and National Regulations will be tripled.
Increased penalties will be in place in 2026, pending the passage of legislation.
Safety compliance through Child Care Subsidy
The Australian Government expects all Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved providers and services to provide high-quality and safe care.
Increased transparency for families
More information on StartingBlocks.gov.au
From 1 September 2025, the following information will be published on StartingBlocks.gov.au:
- the date the local regulator last visited each service
- conditions placed on a provider or service by the regulator
- a clearer link between a service and their provider.
From November 2025, StartingBlocks.gov.au will show compliance breaches and enforcement actions.
Education and information
ACECQA will develop resources and education for families to help them better understand child safety and quality. Resources will become progressively available from September 2025.
Compliance display
In October 2025, Education Ministers will receive further advice about requiring services to physically display compliance breaches.
Legislative change
Changes to the National Law and Regulations required for these measures will be tabled in December 2025.
Changes include:
- making the safety, rights and best interests of children the paramount consideration under National Law
- mandating the national child safety training for all staff, volunteers and students
- making use of the National Educator Register mandatory from February 2026
- enabling Regulatory Authorities to proactively share the identity of prohibited individuals and individuals subject to enforceable undertakings with Approved Providers
- removing the ability to apply for service waivers related to building design to improve adequate supervision of children at all times
- requiring approved working with children checks prior to commencing any work in ECEC services and mandate notification of any changes to status
- extending the limitation period for offences to enable prosecution to be undertaken.
Timeline
2025
| September | Personal digital devices banned or restricted StartingBlocks.gov.au displays compliance and regulatory information |
|---|---|
| October | CCTV assessment project underway Physical display of compliance information advice delivered to Education Ministers |
| November | Unannounced site visits by Australian Government authorised officers start |
| December | National Educator Register testing Safeguarding practices rapid assessment report Updates to National Law and National regulations tabled |
2026
| Early 2026 | Mandatory child safety training available Inappropriate conduct updated legislation in place, pending passage of legislation ECEC working with children check requirements updated legislation, pending passage of legislation Maximum penalties under the National Law and National Regulations tripled, pending passage of legislation |
|---|---|
| February | National Educator Register rollout |
| July 2026 | Wage subsidy grants to support mandatory child safety training available |
| August 2026 | CCTV assessment report |
Earlier work
The actions outlined above build on a series of reviews, projects and reforms over recent years.
2024 regulatory project
In 2024 the Australian Government established a regulatory project for services not in scope of the NQF or state and territory residual legislation. The project’s aim is to ensure quality and safety of these services. Regulatory activities started in March 2025.
2023 child safety review
In 2023 the Australian Government instructed ACECQA to review child safety arrangements under the NQF. This review:
- made 16 recommendations about child safety
- was supported by public consultation seeking feedback on options to address the recommendations
- led to a small number of actions and regulatory changes, some of which are still being implemented
- directly informed the new joint actions
2021 national workforce strategy
In 2021 ACECQA developed the National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy. It aims to foster a sustainable and high-quality ECEC workforce.
Actions under the strategy that support child safety include:
- implementing early childhood teacher registration in every state and territory
- developing options for a national registration system for educators who are not teachers
- improving access to core professional development for educators and teachers
- reviewing staffing and qualification requirements under the NQF
- reviewing requirements for early childhood teaching programs under the NQF
- developing options for a live national workforce database
- reviewing and strengthening the quality of vocational education and training packages.
2019 NQF review
In 2019 a review of the NQF was conducted to make sure it continued to meet its objectives. This review resulted in changes to the NQF to:
- strengthen child safety
- update regulations to reflect new risks
- ensure the system stayed up to date with best practice.
Report a child safety concern
If you are concerned about a child’s safety or suspect a child is at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, contact your state or territory child protection agency.
If you have concerns about quality and safety or a serious incident related to an ECEC provider or service, contact your state or territory regulatory authority.