Opposition calls on Labor to work together on childcare laws

News.com.au

5 hours ago

Sussan Ley is calling on Anthony Albanese to work together on bolstering children's safety laws after horrific allegations of sex abuse at a childcare centre.
Last week, detectives arrested and charged Joshua Dale Brown, 26, with more than 70 offences, including child rape and possession of child abuse material.
He was a worker at a Melbourne childcare centre and had a working with children check.
The Opposition Leader said on Monday it was 'an incredible betrayal'.
'I just felt physically sick when I heard this,' Ms Ley told Seven's Sunrise.
'So I have written to the Prime Minister in good faith to offer our constructive engagement in the lead-up to parliament returning so that we can have legislation ready to go to actually act once and for all, to do what I think every parent would expect, and every community member would expect, to make sure our children are safe in childcare settings.'
A royal commission into child sexual abuse was completed in late 2017.
Ms Ley was the assistant education minister responsible for childcare when the inquiry started in 2013.
She also held ministerial positions in the Coalition governments during the royal commission and after it.
Asked if last week's allegations were a 'failure of the Coalition', Ms Ley insisted that her side got the ball rolling and Labor kept up momentum.
'Now, we certainly need that work to be accelerated,' she said.
Pressed on what the Coalition did when it received the royal commission's final report, she said the states and territories held most of the responsibility.
Though, she was quick to deny that she was blaming state and territory governments.
'I'm not stepping back from saying that things need to be done, but I am recognising that state governments do own a lot of this,' Ms Ley said.
'For example, the Victorian state government has, if I can describe them, weaker working with children checks than any other state.
'And we all need the states to step up and own this because if they just say, as they often do in these instances, we want our system to prevail, then they're not acting either.'
She added that federal intervention 'won't necessarily cover every single working with children check' because they were a state-level responsibility, but it would 'cover other measures that can take place in childcare centres that the Commonwealth may be able to hold some levers of control'.
Education Minister Jason Clare last week vowed to introduce legislation that would let Canberra cut federal funds to childcare centres that 'aren't up to scratch' on children's safety.
He said funding was one big lever the federal government could pull.
In a separate case, the Herald Sun revealed over the weekend that a man convicted of accessing nearly 1000 images of child abuse material visited childcare centres while awaiting prosecution for some three years.