Sector Statement: Child safety must be more than a regulatory obligation

Reimagine Australia is deeply disturbed by the abuse of babies and toddlers exposed in the ABC Four Corners investigation Monstrous, and by the failures in safeguarding, oversight and accountability that allowed that abuse to occur and continue.

In our sector statement, we highlight that these revelations demand more than condemnation or another round of regulatory adjustment. They demand an honest examination of the systems, institutions, policies and cultures that shape the experiences of Australia’s youngest children, and especially children with disability and developmental delay, who face more than twice the odds of experiencing violence.

“The youngest child harmed was 13 months old. He could not tell anyone what was happening to him. Babies, and many children with disability or developmental delay, depend entirely on the adults and systems around them to notice, to understand and to act.”
— Marlene Fox, Chair, Reimagine Australia

What Reimagine Australia is calling for

We call on all governments to:

1. Set minimum supervision standards, so no educator is ever alone with infants and at least two educators are with children at all times.
   
2. Bring all government-funded services into the National Quality Framework, and fund the transition.
   
3. Make the safety of children with disability and developmental delay explicit in reform, training, assessment and incident reporting.
   
4. Embed the Disability Royal Commission’s relevant findings in early childhood safeguarding reform.
   
5. Build workforce capability to recognise harm, including in children who cannot speak about it.
   
6. Invest in the workforce through sustainable funding, fair pay and conditions, and ongoing professional development.
   
7. Guarantee families a right to timely, clear information about regulatory findings concerning their own child.
   
8. Ensure protection never depends on a diagnosis or NDIS eligibility.
   
9. Establish a National Early Childhood Commission with a whole-of-childhood mandate.
   
10. Co-design reform with children, families and communities, including people with lived experience.

Read the full statement

Download the full sector statement below.

Media enquiries

Marlene Fox, Chair — Chair@reimagine.com.au