Jason Clare flags 2027 decision on national ECEC commission as safety reforms accelerate

Education Minister Jason Clare has outlined the next steps towards universal early childhood education and care, including a 2027 decision on a proposed national commission and stronger child safety conditions attached to workforce funding.

Education ministers will make a final decision in 2027 on the structure of a proposed Early Education and Care Commission, Education Minister Jason Clare told the Early Childhood Australia National Conference on 1 October.

Mr Clare said a working group was examining possible models, including whether the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) would be incorporated into the commission.

The proposal brings long-term system reform into focus as governments expand access to early learning and strengthen the safety conditions attached to public funding.

Mr Clare said the proposed commission would help bridge governance gaps between state and federal governments, improve data and planning, and address uneven service availability.

Its work would support a better understanding of oversupply in some suburbs and undersupply in others.

“We have set up a Working Group to look at what sort of structure a Commission like this might take,” he said.

“Whether we incorporate ACECQA into it or not.”

The commission’s final structure, including ACECQA’s potential role, remains under consideration.

Mr Clare revisited the Productivity Commission report commissioned two years ago, describing it as a blueprint for building a universal early education system over the next decade.

He highlighted four priorities from the report: improving workforce pay, removing the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) Activity Test, building services where they are needed, and establishing an ECEC commission.

Universal provision, he said, meant early education being available and affordable for everyone for three days a week.

Mr Clare attributed improvements in workforce recruitment and retention to the Government-supported 15 per cent wage increase, reporting that job vacancies had fallen by around 30 per cent and there were 20,000 more early educators nationally.

He said the increase represented an additional $13,000 annually for educators and $21,000 for early childhood teachers, and pointed to legislation passed to underpin continued funding.

Participating services must limit fee increases. Mr Clare said this would save the average family $1,500 over the next two years.

Mr Clare described the replacement of the CCS Activity Test with the 3 Day Guarantee as an important step towards improving access for children experiencing disadvantage.

Since 5 January 2026, all CCS-eligible families have been entitled to at least 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight, regardless of their work or study participation.

The entitlement expands access to financial assistance; families still need an available service place and generally pay a gap fee. 

Mr Clare said approximately 23 per cent more children from low-income families could now access subsidised care for three days a week.

He illustrated the potential impact through the experience of a Melbourne child whose communication and social participation had improved after attending an early learning service in Broadmeadows.

Mr Clare also outlined progress on the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund, which he described as the largest Australian Government investment in new childcare services.

Locations for 46 centres had been announced, with many planned for school grounds and regional or remote communities.

He said communities would begin seeing the centres take shape in 2027, with further announcements to come.

Addressing allegations of abuse in early learning centres, Mr Clare acknowledged the distress experienced by educators and families and said governments had not previously done enough to protect children.

He pointed to restrictions on personal phones, CCTV trials, a national workforce register, mandatory child safety training and increased regulatory enforcement.

Mr Clare said compliance actions by state and territory regulators had doubled over the past year.

He also reported that 119 centres with longstanding safety failures had been put on notice to rectify problems or risk losing CCS funding. Of these, 59 had addressed the problems, while another 12 had closed voluntarily or had funding cut.

“The threat of funding being cut meant suddenly things that couldn’t be fixed were fixed,” he said.

Separately, services receiving the worker retention payment face a safety condition from 1 July 2027.

Department of Education guidance identifies this as meeting Quality Area 2: Children’s health and safety under the National Quality Standard. Centre Based Day Care, Outside School Hours Care and Family Day Care services that do not meet QA2 may have their workforce funding cut or suspended.

Providers with services rated below Meeting in QA2 should address findings and seek reassessment as soon as possible, and no later than 31 March 2027.

Services that have done so and are awaiting reassessment will continue receiving funding until it is completed. Other transitional arrangements are outlined in the Department’s guidance. 

Mr Clare said approximately 95 per cent of centres met the expected safety standard and called for that figure to reach 100 per cent.

He also thanked educators for their uptake of the first round of mandatory safety training, reporting that 95 per cent had completed it within four months.

“What you do is one of the most important jobs in the world,” he said.

Read Jason Clare’s full conference address here.