ABC: NSW upper house committee to launch inquiry into troubled childcare sector

A powerful parliamentary inquiry has been called into the troubled childcare sector in the wake of a landmark ABC investigation that exposed regulatory failures and serious safety breaches, particularly within large for-profit providers.

After Four Corners aired, hundreds of insiders and whistleblowers have come forward, with grave concerns about the state of child care in Australia and how it's failing families.

On Thursday night the NSW upper house committee on education met and unanimously backed an inquiry.

Chaired by Greens MP Abigail Boyd, the inquiry aims to scrutinise the performance of the NSW regulator, which some experts say is not fit for purpose.

The terms of reference also include looking into the health and safety of children in child care, the quality of services and the pay and conditions of the workforce.

"Monday's Four Corners exposé has sparked an outpouring of public support for urgent action on the failures in our early learning system," Ms Boyd said.

"The level of motivation is extremely high — people are demanding answers, and I'm committed to getting them.

"Dropping your child off at an early learning centre in the morning is an enormous act of trust, but it doesn't need to be a blind leap of faith. Families deserve transparency and accountability, and that's what a parliamentary investigation can help to deliver."

She said as chair of this new inquiry, she would ensure it uncovered the real reasons behind the alarming rise in harmful incidents in NSW centres and take decisive action to clean up this sector.

"The safety of our children and workers is non-negotiable."

Submissions will remain open until the end of May, with public hearings scheduled for August, September and October in Sydney and regional NSW.

Systemic issues in sector

The latest documents highlight serious systemic issues in Australia's childcare sector.

The NSW inquiry will look into these issues with broad investigative powers, including the ability to call senior executives from childcare companies, parents, experts and peak bodies to provide evidence.

It follows a move by the NSW government to launch an internal inquiry into the regulator two weeks ago, which Ms Boyd said was designed to deflect a standing order 52.

The request was made in November but she said she has had significant pushback, which culminated in Ms Boyd passing a censure motion earlier this week calling for the release of the documents.

The government now has 14 days to comply and release the files or face further sanction.

Ms Boyd has seen some of the documents, which are sitting in privilege boxes, and wants them released publicly.

"If the public had even the slightest idea of how horrendous these incidents are in a lot of these centres, there would be an absolute uproar. And they don't want to have to deal with that. They don't want to have to deal with the angry parents wanting to know why they weren't told earlier that these things were happening at the places they're leaving their children," she said.

Four Corners exposed serious issues in child care, including cutting corners to boost profits by imposing financial targets on centre managers such as food targets, occupancy targets and staff-to-wage targets.

The investigation found evidence of some centres serving kids 33-cent meals, underpaying educators, and hiring unqualified workers, to maximise profits.

Source: Adele Ferguson, ABC News, "NSW upper house committee to launch inquiry into troubled childcare sector", published 21 March 2025, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-21/nsw-to-launch-inquiry-into-childcare-sector/105078484

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Systemic issues in sector

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