Interview - Sunrise with Natalie Barr

NATALIE BARR: Australia has been dealt a horrific wake up call this morning that the rules and the regulations we thought were protecting our children are just not good enough. It follows revelations of horrific alleged crimes against children across several childcare centres in Victoria. 

More than 2,000 families have been affected by this. Now our leaders are finally acting, but it follows years and years of experts, advocates and government bodies calling for change. 

Education Minister Jason Clare joins us live in Sydney now. Our youngest, our most vulnerable Australians have been failed. What are you doing right now to fix this? 

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: The truth is, Nat, you're right. This has taken too long for governments to act. This is sickening and it's serious, it demands serious action. We've already taken action around mobile phones in child care centres and mandatory reporting, but there's more that we have to do. There's a lot more that we have to do. 

When Parliament returns later this month I'll introduce a piece of legislation in the first sitting fortnight that will cut off funding to child care centres that aren't up to scratch when it comes to the safety of our children. 

The big weapon that the Federal Government has to wield here is the funding that we provide to child care centres. It equates to about 70 per cent of the funding that runs a centre, and if they're not keeping our kids safe then we need to cut off their funding. 

There's got to be consequences for this sort of bad behaviour when centres don't look after our kids properly. 

BARR: Yeah, there should be. We spent millions and millions of dollars on a Royal Commission in 2015. That recommended a national working with children scheme, it recommended a national Federal office, it recommended a national register for childcare workers. That was 10 years ago. Has the government failed these families? 

CLARE: The system has failed these families. If the allegations are proved to be true then the system has failed these families. 

BARR: But what is the system? Because there's a Royal Commission, it outlines all this, it gets all the experts, our taxpayers' money pays for it, Jason, and it gives it ‑ hands with a bow to the government. And says, "This is what you guys need to do". 

CLARE: Correct. 

BARR: And look where we are today. 

CLARE: Correct, and the implementation of those reforms has taken too bloody long, and they need to be accelerated. That's why I've said we need to implement a register for educators in child care centres. It's why we need to fix the working with children checks. That's work that's being led by Attorney‑Generals, but it needs to be sped up. 

There's no point in making excuses here, Nat. The families of these kids aren't interested in excuses. One of these families is a friend of mine. I know how they're feeling because they've rung me and told me, and I can't repeat on television what they said to me because there's kids watching. But this is serious, and I'm determined to act. 

It's a complicated system, but people watching aren't interested in bloody excuses. They're interested in action. And that's what Education Ministers must take. 

BARR: Okay. Two years ago under your Government the Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, a national independent body, issued a warning. They said they were concerned over "the level of vetting being undertaken pre‑employment". Why didn't you act on that? 

CLARE: I commissioned that agency to conduct a review of child safety and I did that after a paedophile was arrested and convicted in Queensland. You'll remember that case. That's what led to a number of reforms around mobile phones and mandatory reporting. But there's a whole bunch of recommendations there that need to be implemented. 

The key point here to make, Nat, whether we're talking about that or whether we're talking about working with children checks or anything else, is there's no silver bullet here. This work will never be done. There will always be people that will try to break through the net and try to get into the system. And we've also always got to work on making sure that we find ways to keep them out and keep our kids safe. 

Now not enough has been done, and not enough has been done fast enough here. But I can tell you that I'm determined to act. That's why I put this on the agenda of Education Ministers last week and we agreed that because of what's happening in Victoria, but also what's happening in New South Wales after the Four Corners exposé earlier this year, and what's happened in Queensland, that we need to bring together all of these recommendations and implement them. 

BARR: Okay. The phone ban. You’re talking about the phone ban now, but this was brought in nationally last July, wasn't it? Victoria is only getting centres to implement it from this September. It's voluntary and there'll be fines. That's a long time between last July and this September. 

CLARE: Too long. The short answer to that is too long. The ban was put in the National Code in last July. Most centres have implemented it. The tortuous nature of the system means it needs to be put into regulations that happen in a couple of months time, and Victoria is making sure that that happens sooner than that. 

But all of the advice that we've received from ACECQA, and other experts is you've got to get the personal mobile phones and any digital devices that workers have out of the centre. The only photographs that you should receive of your children from the centre should be from the authorised centre owned camera or phone. That was the advice that we got. We got it for a reason, Nat, and we're implementing it. 

BARR: Yep, okay. Still a massive amount of work to be done. Expanding and strengthening those working with children checks, the registers. We're going to keep on it. Thank you very much. Thanks Jason. 

CLARE: Thanks Nat.