The Victorian Greens will move to establish a powerful parliamentary inquiry into Victoria's early childhood education and care (ECEC) system this week and have called on Labor to commit to releasing key documents relating to safety and regulation in childcare, after they missed the deadline last week.
The Greens will push for a select committee, saying it's needed to fill the gaping holes in Labor's own review, amid growing concern over the lack of transparency and accountability in how the childcare sector is regulated.
The move comes as the Greens today table a letter to the Premier, formally calling on the Labor Government to commit to releasing the documents requested by the Greens which was respectfully drafted to ensure identifying details are redacted to protect children's privacy.
The Greens say they understand more time may be needed to do this thoroughly, but that the public deserves a firm commitment that the documents will eventually be released, and a clear timeline to go with it.
While Labor continues to operate in secrecy - and with their narrow review fails to examine how the Department of Education regulates the sector - the Greens say a broader inquiry is essential to understanding the full scale of the crisis and how to fix it.
The proposed select committee would be chaired by a non-government member to ensure transparency and independence. It would have the power to call witnesses, compel documents, and investigate both government and private childcare providers. It will require the support of the Opposition and additional crossbench members to pass.
The inquiry would examine the consequences of Victoria's increasingly privatised childcare system, unsafe staff-to-child ratios, poor workforce conditions, weak oversight, and critically, the Department's role in regulating the sector.
As stated by Victorian Greens spokesperson for Early Childhood, Anasina Gray-Barberio:
"If we want to fix this crisis, we need to understand the full scale of the problem. Labor's narrow review avoids scrutiny of their own regulation while they've been marking their own homework. We need this inquiry to fill in the gaps."
"This Labor government consistently fails to be transparent and accountable. I've written to the Premier with a yes or no question, are you going to release these documents? We understand that redacting private information takes time and we support that but families need assurance they're not going to be left in the dark."
