20 May 2026
Greens MLC Abigail Boyd – who chaired inquiry – says system ‘failing too many children, families and educators’
Systemic weaknesses in New South Wales’ childcare sector have allowed predators to work in the industry and abuse children, a scathing inquiry has found.
In its final report, published on Wednesday, a NSW upper house inquiry into the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector found “the proliferation of for-profit services and a lax regulatory approach” had led to “predators” being allowed to work in childcare and abuse children.
The report said operators backed by private equity have “no place” in the sector, and that the state’s regulator for early education had “failed to respond appropriately” to services with “extensive histories of non-compliance, breaches, safety incidents and persistently poor ratings”.
In her foreword, the chair, upper house Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, said the sector was “in crisis”.
“While the sector is entrusted with the safety, wellbeing and development of our youngest children, the evidence before this committee revealed a system under profound strain – one that is failing too many children, families and educators,” she wrote.
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Boyd wrote that the “race to the bottom, where everybody can get rich – except the people actually educating, caring for and nurturing children – has hopefully reached the limits of its predatory expansion”.
She said the recommendations in the report sought to “curtail profiteering”, and included a clear finding that private equity-backed services had “no place in the sector”.
The crossbench and opposition-led inquiry recommended the government introduce a policy about the composition of the sector to reduce the overall percentage of large for-profit providers in favour of “not-for-profit, government-run and community-run services”. It found for-profit providers were of a lower quality and were less safe for children.
That includes the “provision of favourable lease arrangements” for services on state and local government land. The inquiry found that developers were influencing decisions about where services were being established, with a negative impact on availability in lower socioeconomic and regional areas.
The inquiry found that CCTV in childcare centres, for which a national trial is now under way, was a useful regulatory and investigative tool, but “no substitute for adequate staffing and supervision”. Experts have raised concern about hacking, data storage and the potential use of AI to produce illegal and harmful material.
The report has recommended the government look at preventing apprentice and trainee childcare workers being left unsupervised with children and that services rated “working towards” or lower not be allowed to take student placements or open new centres.
Read the full article on the Guardian's website here.