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Speaker 1: Well onto, an issue which shocked the nation last week,

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Speaker 1: a childcare worker in Victoria charged with more than seventy

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Speaker 1: offenses relating to allegations involving well very very young victims. Now,

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Speaker 1: as a result, the federal government is looking at reforms

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Speaker 1: that would standardize working with children checks across the country.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line is Early Childhood Australia's nt

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Speaker 1: General Manager Janet william Smith's good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Janet, good morning to you.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, I

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Speaker 1: know the federal government's looking at reforms that will standardize

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Speaker 1: working with children checks across the country. What do you

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Speaker 1: think needs to happen here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: I think that's a really good move. I think standardizing

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Speaker 2: and nationalizing the Working with Children's check is one step

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Speaker 2: in the right direction, definitely. I think we need to

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Speaker 2: look at a national register for early childhood educators too,

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Speaker 2: so that we have a nationally consistent approach. I think

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Speaker 2: those are the things that we really need to push

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Speaker 2: forward through from a national perspective. That would obviously involve

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory too. And the other thing that I

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Speaker 2: think that we really need to consider is looking at

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Speaker 2: a reportable conduct scheme here in the Northern Territory, talk.

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Speaker 1: Us through Janet if you can how like how that

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Speaker 1: register would work and then how the conduct side of

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Speaker 1: things would work.

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Speaker 2: I think in some jurisdictions there is a reportable conduct

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Speaker 2: scheme and what that means is that services so people

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Speaker 2: who work in early childhood services, educators, teachers and providers

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Speaker 2: are obliged to report any conduct, any misconduct, or any

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Speaker 2: any concerns around misconduct that they see in early childhood

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Speaker 2: education and care settings. Now, that's a really important scheme

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Speaker 2: that really helps to very early in the piece, recognize

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Speaker 2: any concerns that colleagues might have about the way that

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Speaker 2: their colleagues might be working with children, and that reportable

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Speaker 2: conduct scheme then identify with children. We don't have the

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Speaker 2: reportable conduct scheme in the Northern Territory. I think it

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Speaker 2: would be a really good thing for us to think

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Speaker 2: about doing that. They're having Victorias New South Wales.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And the other thing that I think is important is

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Speaker 2: that if we had a national working with children's check,

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Speaker 2: that's not that's not gonna that's not going to do

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Speaker 2: it on its own, that is not going to do it.

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Speaker 2: That's going to be one one of a number of

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Speaker 2: things that we need to do that will contribute to

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Speaker 2: keeping children safe in our early childhood settings.

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Speaker 1: It seems like it seems odd to me that it's

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Speaker 1: not already happening.

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Speaker 2: Agreed, agreed, completely agreed. Yeah, the sector, Yeah, absolutely, one

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Speaker 2: hundred percent. So I think this is this is a

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Speaker 2: moment in time where I think people have just absolutely

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Speaker 2: woken up to the fact that these are recommendations that

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Speaker 2: have been in place for a while, and these are

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Speaker 2: things that need to happen now. So a national register

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Speaker 2: and national working with Children's check every jurisdiction across the country,

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Speaker 2: having a reportable conduct scheme. What that does is it

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Speaker 2: enables us to share information about people that are working

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Speaker 2: in children. That's a really important thing that we need

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Speaker 2: to do. I could say this that, you know, we've

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Speaker 2: got to be really clear here that this kind of

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Speaker 2: thing is quite what's happened is dreadful, and I have

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Speaker 2: to say this from an early childhood perspective, the sector

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Speaker 2: is devastated. We have so many committed people in this sector,

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Speaker 2: so many talented, skilled and committed early childhood educators and

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Speaker 2: teachers that are absolutely devastated by this, and we want

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Speaker 2: to do things that are going to change there. But

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Speaker 2: this kind of behavior is really covert. You know, this

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Speaker 2: has been going on for quite some years with this

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Speaker 2: particular situation. So we need to share information about people.

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Speaker 2: We need to be able to say what you know,

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Speaker 2: what's going on in Sydney, we know about it. In

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, what's going on in South Australia, we

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Speaker 2: know about it in Queensland. It's a big country. People

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Speaker 2: can move around, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the thing, and sometimes, like you, you know,

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Speaker 1: you've look, I'm not an expert in this space, but

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Speaker 1: you find that people are predatory. They will move around,

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Speaker 1: they'll do things to try and get past the system.

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Speaker 2: That's right. And I think the other thing that's really important,

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Speaker 2: really building on what you're saying there, is that we

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Speaker 2: need more than one set of eyes on children all

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Speaker 2: of the time. You know, child safety doesn't just exist

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Speaker 2: in the rooms that children are in. Child safety needs

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Speaker 2: to be at policy, it needs to be at regulation,

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Speaker 2: and it needs to be at legislation levels two. And

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Speaker 2: I think that in the rooms that we're in with children,

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Speaker 2: we need more than one set of eyes on children

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Speaker 2: all the time because this kind of behavior is covert.

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Speaker 2: You know, we need anything that we can do that

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Speaker 2: will support the safety of children, the supervision of children,

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Speaker 2: the relationships that staff have with each other when they're

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Speaker 2: working together to care and educate children. It's really important

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Speaker 2: people understanding their delegations in the rooms when they're with children.

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Speaker 2: What's my job, what's my role, what's my obligation? Who

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Speaker 2: will listen to me if I'm worried about something, and

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Speaker 2: who can I talk to? It's very hard to see

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Speaker 2: something that you maybe you know, a colleague doing something

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Speaker 2: that you think is a little bit like, oh, I

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Speaker 2: don't feel very comfortable about that. You know, it's quite

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Speaker 2: difficult to come forward and say I feel a really

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Speaker 2: worried about that if you're not going to be listened to.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right.

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Speaker 2: That's why child safety exists at that higher level too,

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Speaker 2: welcoming people's concerns. I'm here to listen, yeah, Janet.

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Speaker 1: I mean one of the things that people have said

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Speaker 1: over and over again over the last few days is

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Speaker 1: how on earth, you know, was this person able to

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Speaker 1: be in a room with a child for a you know,

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Speaker 1: for a period of time that they're able to engage

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Speaker 1: in this disgusting, disgraceful behavior.

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Speaker 2: It beggars belief.

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Speaker 1: It does.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it beggars belief. And I think that's that's that's

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Speaker 2: what we're talking about here. What you're talking about is

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Speaker 2: almost unbelievable, isn't it. You know, when you actually say

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Speaker 2: it out loud like that, it's almost unbelievable. What we

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Speaker 2: have to be really clear about is how we supervised

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Speaker 2: children together as a team of people. Early childhood educators

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Speaker 2: in rooms need to work together their relationships with each

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Speaker 2: other in relation to understanding what are the rules in

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Speaker 2: this room, what are the tools that we have available

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Speaker 2: to help us, and what are the delegations. Who's doing

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Speaker 2: what here, Who's going to listen to me if I'm

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Speaker 2: worried about something, Who's watching these children collectively together? It's

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Speaker 2: more complex than just one thing. There's a number of

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Speaker 2: things that have been discussed over the last ten days.

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Speaker 2: One is, you know, the supervision of children, One is

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Speaker 2: the National Working with Children's Tecks CCTV. All of these

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Speaker 2: things have been talked about, all of them. If any

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Speaker 2: of that contributes to the safety of children, let's collectively

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Speaker 2: look at what we can do to bring all of

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Speaker 2: that together to make sure that children are say.

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Speaker 1: In terms of last week, the Northern Territory News is

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Speaker 1: reporting that more than one hundred childcare centers across the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory have gone years without an assessment by the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Regulator. Do you know much about that? And

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Speaker 1: in your eyes is that acceptable?

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Speaker 2: I think we do need to make sure that we

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Speaker 2: are much much more vigilant around the regulation and the

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Speaker 2: rating and the assessment processes. Do you know what I think? Right?

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Speaker 2: We have a fantastic system in place in this country.

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Speaker 2: It actually is world renowned. We have a National Early

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Speaker 2: Years Learning Framework, we have a national quality framework and

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Speaker 2: national quality standards. The system is fantastic. We've just got

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Speaker 2: to use it better, you know. We've got to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we implement the systems, the regulations and the

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Speaker 2: frameworks to the maximum. We do have a really good system.

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Speaker 2: We mustn't throw the baby out with the bath water here.

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Speaker 2: We do have really good systems in place. Each jurisdiction

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Speaker 2: operates differently. That's another thing. Regulators are jurisdictionally based. You know.

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Speaker 2: We have a different regulator here, a different regulator in

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Speaker 2: different states. And territories with a National Quality Authority that

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Speaker 2: sets the national quality framework. We've got to be much

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Speaker 2: much better at implementing what we've got. These are the

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Speaker 2: tools that we have to keep people safe. We have

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Speaker 2: a good framework and a good standard that can keep

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Speaker 2: children safe. We need to use it.

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Speaker 1: I know some people have called for CCTV to be

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Speaker 1: in childcare centers. I mean, what are your thoughts on that.

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Speaker 2: I think we need a sweet things. I can't. I

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Speaker 2: don't think it's one thing. I don't think CCTV alone

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Speaker 2: is going to crack this. I really don't. I think

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Speaker 2: if that's going to help keep children safe, if that's

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Speaker 2: going to support people to feel like that's going to

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Speaker 2: help anything that goes towards keeping children safe. I actually

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Speaker 2: believe we need to look at some of the more

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Speaker 2: complex things that happen in early childhood education and care.

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Speaker 2: I don't know whether you've had children go through early

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Speaker 2: child perfection care. Well so have I. And you know

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Speaker 2: my children love their early child's educators. My son used

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Speaker 2: to come home talking about his early childo center soo

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Speaker 2: he went to sleep at night. It drive me up

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Speaker 2: the wall. I was like, I'm your mother, Actually it

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Speaker 2: drives me up the wall. So what we have to

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Speaker 2: understand is what these people mean to children. Yeah, our

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Speaker 2: children love these people. Yeah, you know, they actually do.

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Speaker 2: And when you're looking after other people's children when they're

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Speaker 2: very young, you join that family for a while, whether

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Speaker 2: you like it or not. Yeah, So we've got to

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Speaker 2: make sure that we attend to that. We attend to

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Speaker 2: that relationship with strong, strong regulations, strong frameworks, strong rules,

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Speaker 2: and strong policies because it is an intimate business well,

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Speaker 2: and looking after other people's children.

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Speaker 1: Is absolutely And the thing that I think is, you know,

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Speaker 1: is really sort of distressing as well. Over the last

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Speaker 1: week or so. It is even this morning. You know,

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Speaker 1: I've got somebody messaging saying, Katie, as a parent with

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Speaker 1: a child at childcare, I'm questioning whether I want to

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Speaker 1: send my child to childcare anymore. And you know this

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Speaker 1: is a really sad part.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. You know, my son's just had a child

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Speaker 2: and I spoke to his partner and she said exactly

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Speaker 2: the same to me, I'm not sure I want him

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Speaker 2: to go to childcare now. And I just thought, what

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Speaker 2: a shame. You know, my children learnt so much. And

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Speaker 2: also children have a right to access high quality early

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Speaker 2: childhood education.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, they have.

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Speaker 2: A right to do that, and I think we have

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Speaker 2: to protect that system and we have to protect that

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Speaker 2: right and to do this.

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Speaker 1: We can do this, and a large majority of childcare

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Speaker 1: workers are incredible. You know, my kids are like the

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Speaker 1: child Yeah, like the childcare workers that you know who

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Speaker 1: used to look after my children are mine a long

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Speaker 1: out of childcare now, but they honestly, you know, they

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Speaker 1: have beautiful They were helping me raise my kids and

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Speaker 1: doing everything by doing everything in in you know, the

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Speaker 1: way that you would expect and hope and then to

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Speaker 1: have you know, a grub of a human behaving in

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Speaker 1: the way that he has in Victoria. You know, it

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Speaker 1: is not the majority. It is certainly not the majority.

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Speaker 2: Can I just say, Katie, I'm so pleased that you

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Speaker 2: said that, because I have to tell you, I think

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Speaker 2: so many parents will listen to what you're saying and say,

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Speaker 2: that's exactly how I feel. That's how I feel too.

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Speaker 2: The influence that early childhood educators have on children's growth

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Speaker 2: and development and their learning is absolutely it's a game changer.

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Speaker 2: When we put our children into early childhood education care,

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Speaker 2: they're growing their brains now, having a contribution to that

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Speaker 2: is a really big task and it's a really big

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Speaker 2: responsibility and most people in the sector do that with love,

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Speaker 2: care and attention. Yeah, and your experience of your children

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Speaker 2: is that they loved their early childhood educator yep, and

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Speaker 2: that they had a relationship with them that helped them flourish.

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Speaker 2: Now that's the system that we have, and that's the

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Speaker 2: system that we have to protect. We have to protect them.

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Speaker 1: So from your perspective in terms of what should and

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Speaker 1: you know it could be happening. I mean we've really

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Speaker 1: run through that already on a national stage. But you know,

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Speaker 1: as early Childhood Australia is into general manager, you know

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Speaker 1: what assurances I guess can you give those listening this

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Speaker 1: morning that certainly you and I think the whole childcare

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Speaker 1: sector in the Northern Territory will be fighting really for

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Speaker 1: this change because you guys want to be able to

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Speaker 1: do jobs I would assume in a way that you've

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Speaker 1: always been able to without having to worry about people

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Speaker 1: like that entering the system.

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Speaker 2: Of course, absolutely, and thank you for the question. We

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Speaker 2: really need to look at these national regulations. We need

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Speaker 2: to look at a national register and we need to

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Speaker 2: join forces across the country and hold hands and share

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Speaker 2: information about the people that are working with our children.

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Speaker 2: The majority of people in this sector are in the

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Speaker 2: sector because they want to be involved in the development

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Speaker 2: and the teaching of children. But there are going to

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Speaker 2: be occasions like we've had this in the last two weeks,

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Speaker 2: which has just been abominable. We have to join up.

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Speaker 2: We need to be able to share information across states

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Speaker 2: and territories. We need a national register. We should have

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Speaker 2: a reportable conduct scheme in the Northern Territory so that

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Speaker 2: we can actually encourage people that really are doing a

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Speaker 2: fantastic job with our kids. You know what. You can

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Speaker 2: raise the alarm and say, well, I'm really worried about that.

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Speaker 2: But what if I'm wrong? My question is, what if

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Speaker 2: you're right. If you make a miss, If you see

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Speaker 2: something that you're worried about and you're worried about it

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Speaker 2: because you think it might not be what you think

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Speaker 2: it is, tell somebody, because if you're wrong, it's a mistake.

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Speaker 2: If you're right, you're protecting a child. Don't ever shy away.

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Speaker 2: Don't ever shy away from speaking out about anything that

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Speaker 2: you're concerned about. That's my opinion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, Janet. I really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thank you very much for having.

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Speaker 2: A chance and a very important conversation.

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Speaker 1: I think it is to.

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Speaker 2: Attending to it in the way you are. It is

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Speaker 2: really important. I appreciate that.

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Speaker 1: No worry, thank you,