QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr CLARE (Blaxland—Minister for Education) (14:56): I thank my friend the mellifluous member for. Moreton for her question—also known as the best singer in the Australian parliament, I'm informed, as well. There is nothing more important than the safety of our children.

Over the last year, I've been very blunt that not enough has been done by governments, whether it's Labor governments or Liberal governments or state or federal governments, to keep our children safe in early education and care. A lot has happened in the last 12 months. Personal mobile phones are now banned in every centre across the country.

CCTV is now being trialled in centres across the country. The Attorney-General is working with states and territories to strengthen working-with-children checks. A national register of every childcare worker is now up and running.

Mandatory child safety training is now rolling out, and every childcare worker across the country has six months to do that training. I can inform the House that after three months 90 per cent of childcare workers have already done that training, and that's a good sign. Our childcare workers, our educators and our teachers are the best asset that we've got to keep our kids safe, and they are just as hurt, just as angry, just as sickened and just as broken as the rest of us by the revelations from last year, and the fact that 90 per cent have done that training within three months, I think, shows how seriously they're taking this.

And it's not the end; it's just the start. The next tranche of safety training rolls out in August. I can also inform you that the legislation that we passed through this place last year is being used, and it's working.

This is the legislation that gives us the power to cut funding off to centres that aren't up to scratch. I can inform the House now that six centres have shut, that 44 centres have suddenly fixed the safety and quality problems at those centres that existed for years but that they had refused to act to fix until this legislation was passed, and that others have now hit the deadline and, if they haven't hit the standard, have been issued with notices of intent by my department to suspend or to cancel their funding.

I can also advise the House of more encouraging information. The percentage of childcare centres meeting the national quality and safety standards is now at the highest level ever, and the number of inspections by state regulators of childcare centres in the last 12 months is the highest it's ever been, and this is a good sign. It's an indication that things are changing for the better.

But we're not done yet. There is a lot more work that needs to be done. The truth is that this work will never be fully completed, and I'll have more to say on that in the next few weeks.