Transcript - ABC News Breakfast with Emma Rebellato

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Well, more on our top story on childcare reforms now with the Federal and State education Ministers and Territory Education Ministers meeting today. 

We're now joined though, by Federal Education Minister Jason Clare, who's in Sydney. Minister, thanks for joining us this morning.

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: G'day, Emma.

REBELLATO: Let's start with this report about a trial of CCTV in childcare centres. Will that definitely happen?

CLARE: Yeah, this is one of a number of measures that I'll put on the table for Ministers to agree to today. This is, as you said, a meeting of Education Ministers across the country. 

I think all Australians have been sickened by the revelations out of Victoria and elsewhere over the last few months and they expect us to act. We've already passed laws through the Parliament that give us the power to cut off funding to childcare centres that aren't up to scratch when it comes to safety standards. And we've started using those powers already against 37 centres. And there's more to come. 

But what we'll discuss today is the next steps. And one of those is a trial of CCTV in up to 300 centres across the country. Some of those will be centres where they'll be mandatorily required to install those cameras, and in other cases, centres will volunteer to be part of that trial.

REBELLATO: Are you worried about privacy concerns at all, or even perhaps complacency? The Early Childhood CEO says they support a trial, but they're worried that this could make people become complacent now.

CLARE: Yeah, both of those points are really important. Privacy is important. We need to make sure that if we're going to roll out CCTV, where is the data stored to make sure it's protected; that it doesn't become a honey pot for bad people to hack into that information. Where should the cameras be placed in centres and where shouldn't they? And so that's why the Australian Centre for Child Protection will oversee the trial. 

And as you rightly point out, we cannot be complacent here. Cameras can't do everything. They can help to deter people from doing bad things, they can help police with their investigations afterwards. 

But ultimately, the greatest asset we've got here to keep our children safe are the incredible workers in our centres, the 99.9 per cent of people who love our kids, who care for our kids, who educate our kids. They're just as bloody angry as everybody else in the country at the revelations out of Victoria. And we've got to train them up, give them the skills that they need to be able to identify somebody who might be hiding in plain sight. And that's why, as part of the $189 million package that I'll put on the table today, it will include about $20 million for mandatory national child safety training for our entire workforce right across the country.

REBELLATO: Speaking of workers, when will a national register of child care workers be up and running?

CLARE: We'll work on that. If we get agreement this morning, we'll start immediately. We're going to need to build that system, that register, from scratch. We'll also need to pass laws to make it mandatory for centres to put information onto the register. What we want to do is be in a position to test and trial that new register by December of this year and have it roll out across the country from February of next year.

REBELLATO: The Victorian government released its rapid review this week with 22 recommendations. All are being adopted. But among them were recommendations that really is out of the state sphere. It really goes into the Federal Government area. Do you agree that you have to do the heavy lifting here to make sure there is this national reform of the system?

CLARE: Well, I think the truth is we've all got to step up. You know, the Australian government has to step up. The state and territory governments have to step up. Our regulators have to step up. The private childcare providers have to step up as well here. There is nothing more important than keeping our kids safe. I think it's pretty obvious that not enough has been done and not enough has been done fast enough to keep our kids safe. 

What I'm putting on the table today, this $189 million package, is just the next step, but there will always be more to do. The awful truth here is that this work will never end because there will always be bad people trying to do bad things to our kids. We've just got to do every single thing that we can to keep our kids safe.

REBELLATO: This week, the ABC learned that more than two dozen childcare centres have been named publicly for failing to meet national quality and safety standards. Compliance actions were issued. What's next?

CLARE: Well, what we've said to these centres is they're now on notice. They've got six months to meet those safety and quality standards, otherwise they run the risk of having their funding cut off. Now, this is the biggest weapon that the Commonwealth government has to wield here. We invest about $16 billion a year of taxpayers money into childcare centres. They can't operate without them. It represents about 70 per cent of the funding for an average childcare centre. And if centres aren't meeting the sort of standards that we set as a nation and that parents expect then I think most people watching would say that they don't deserve the funding. So, they've now got six months to step up or run the risk that the funding will get cut off and they'll be shut down.

REBELLATO: How many more are likely to be named and shamed?

CLARE: Well, these first centres are centres where they have not met the standard for more than seven years. Despite regulators going in and out, they still aren't meeting the standards. And there are 37 of those centres --

REBELLATO: That's pretty extraordinary. Sorry, Minister. That's pretty extraordinary, though, for a seven-year period.

CLARE: That's exactly right. Seven years. Let me underline that again. These centres have had seven years to meet those standards and haven't. That's why this legislation's so important. That's why we've put them on notice. There's 37 of them in this first tranche, but there's more to come.

REBELLATO: What would be your message to parents who are, quite frankly, sick of hearing about how many problems there are in these childcare centres? They are sickened by all these issues. What would you say to them about what they can expect out of this meeting today?

CLARE: What I'd say to them is, I get it. I'm one of you. I'm one of those million parents across the country who has my children in early education and care. And I understand when you walk in the door with your child or carry your child into a centre, just how important it is that you can have confidence that your children are going to be safe. And that's what this is all about. 

The truth is not enough has been done. I've been pretty blunt about this and more needs to be done. The laws are part of it, but so is the register, so is the national training, so is banning phones across the country in childcare centres, and so is more inspections in our centres to make sure they're meeting the standards to keep our kids safe. All of that is on the table today.

REBELLATO: And are you expecting consensus from your colleagues on this one?

CLARE: I'm very confident that my colleagues get it. They've been working hard over the last few weeks to put this package together and I'm very confident that we'll get agreement today.

REBELLATO: Education Minister Jason Clare, thanks for joining us this morning.

CLARE: Thanks, Emma.