The review, conducted by former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and senior Victorian bureaucrat Pam White, was released in full by the state government. It followed the revelation that childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown had been charged with sexually abusing eight children, aged between five months and two years, prompting the Victorian government to commission the review.
The report, which was general in nature, emphasized the necessity of a “fundamental reset” to improve child safety, acknowledging that there is “no silver bullet” to prevent dangerous individuals from working in the sector. It also highlighted the need for a unified approach to regulation, pointing out that responsibilities for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) system are currently fractured between federal, state, and territory governments, resulting in “gaps” in oversight.
Among the 22 recommendations proposed—all of which the Victorian government has committed to implementing—is the call for the creation of a national early childhood worker register and legislative changes to empower state regulators with the authority to deregister individuals. The report also criticizes the rapid growth of the ECEC sector without adequate regulatory adaptation, particularly the rise of for-profit providers, and advocates for a thorough rethinking of ECEC funding models
