Governments keep trying to make childcare safer. Could a new ‘national commission’ make a difference?

Governments have spent about a year announcing new policies to make early education safer for Australian children.

In the wake of reports of shocking abuse and neglect in daycare centres, there have been moves to improve training and screening of educators, as well as more centre inspections.

All of these measures have been implemented in response to a crisis. Amid significant community concern about childcare safety, early childhood experts and peak bodies have also been calling for a commission to drive long-term strategic reform.

Ahead of the 2026 federal budget, Education Minister Jason Clare announced plans for a new national commission for early education and care. He told reporters, the idea is

to build on the safety reforms that we’ve already implemented, and help to make sure that the system works better than it does today.

If designed well, there is potential to go beyond addressing the immediate crisis. A national commission could fundamentally reshape the early childhood sector.

What has been announced?

Before anyone gets too excited, the commission is still at the “consideration” stage. The federal government says it will consult with state governments and stakeholders about how a commission would work.

This follows a 2024 Productivity Commission report, which recommended a national independent early education and care commission. The report noted while there are a number of government entities and peak bodies across the sector, “there is no dedicated body that monitors the system’s performance against its objectives”.

It said a new commission should be an independent watchdog and evidence hub, to complement current regulatory efforts at both national and state levels.

In 2023, the South Australian Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care similarly noted the need for a national long-term vision for the sector.

What could a commission do?

The safety and quality problems we are seeing right now cannot be addressed through tighter regulation alone.

Current concerns around safety and quality are tied to the sector’s ongoing workforce challenges.

This includes concerns about workforce shortages, pay and conditions, training quality, heavy workloads, and educator wellbeing.

A national commission could focus on how all these issues connect – and impact on child safety and education quality. It could gather consistent data to inform long-term planning, monitor progress against national commitments, and provide governments with independent advice that cuts across jurisdictional boundaries.

What is needed to make this work?

To be effective, the commission would need to be legislated, independent and adequately resourced.

The Productivity Commission report noted a commission could hold governments to account for the performance of the sector. Professor Deborah Brennan, associate commissioner of the 2024 Productivity Commission inquiry, has also called for a commission to “give detailed consideration to the most effective ways to expand not-for-profit provision”. This call is grounded in evidence that large for-profit services tend to provide lower quality education and care.

The commission would also need to cover the entire sector, across all service and provider types and all jurisdictions. This includes private, public, not-for-profit and for-profit services. It requires a clear mandate, particularly in how it would interact with other government bodies and support national data collection.

If it is going to work – and use the best information available – it also needs to meaningfully involve educators’ experiences and voices.

What now?

Establishing a commission is not the entire answer. There is also an urgent need to improve educator-child ratios. And educators need to be paid and treated like professionals who provide quality early childhood education and keep children safe. If given the right powers and within its mandate, a commission could support these goals.

Done right, a national commission could represent a genuine shift from reactive policy and “bandaid solutions” to a long-term, whole-of-system vision for a sector more than one million families depend on every day.