Wage Justice for Early Childhood Education and Care Workers (Special Account) (Extending Support and Strengthening Safety) Bill 2026

Senator WALSH (Victoria—Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth) (19:19): Last year, when education ministers stood up and announced the national child safety package, there were commitments made about regulatory visits and funding for regulators. Assessment and rating visits are to be conducted with a certain frequency, and there are more visits for services that are, on those visits, rated as working towards a national standard.

Those arrangements were agreed as part of the national child safety package. What I can say is that, in the last quarterly data that is available, there have been more regulatory visits than have ever been conducted before, and that is a reflection of the commitment of the jurisdictions—the states and territories—and their regulators to making sure that there is strong regulation, regular assessment and rating visits, and regular follow-up visits to those services that are assessed as working towards the standard.