Overview

• The Commonwealth announced a $189 million package to fund a national educator register, mandatory child‑safety training, extra inspections and other reforms.
• A CCTV pilot covering about 300 services will begin from October or November, with rules on camera placement, storage and access to be set before rollout.
• The educator register will be built and run by ACECQA with a staged launch from February 2026, ultimately linking employment histories with working‑with‑children check information.
• Personal mobile phones will be prohibited for childcare staff nationwide from 1 September, with states such as South Australia and Victoria outlining fines for noncompliance.
• Federal regulators will conduct an additional 1,600 spot visits and have begun compliance action against 37 centres under new laws that allow funding to be suspended for repeated safety breaches.