ECEC Compliance & Risk Forum
The Sector Connect + ECEC Compliance & Risk Forum 2026
The past few years have tested early childhood education and care providers like never before. Increased scrutiny, reform, workforce pressures and changing community expectations have challenged even the strongest early learning services and organisations.
But across the sector, providers have also responded. They have strengthened systems, supported teams, rebuilt trust and gained greater clarity about what safe, high quality early learning requires.
The Sector Connect + ECEC Compliance and Risk Forum 2026 is not another conversation about what has gone wrong. It is a full-day, in-person leadership forum focused on what comes next.
Presented by The Sector and sponsored by Storypark and ChildAware, the Forum brings together approved providers, executives, service leaders and quality professionals for a practical and candid exploration of ECEC risk, compliance, recovery and organisational resilience.
"Keeping children safe isn't something any of us can do alone. That's why we're proud to support a forum that goes beyond compliance to ask how the sector can build services where children are safe and thriving. It's a conversation we care about at Storypark, and one we want to be part of, alongside the leaders and educators doing this work every day." - Katie Dowle, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Storypark
Building on the success of the Connect+ series, this intimate and curated event will create space for robust discussion, professional connection and sector-led learning. Through real provider stories, expert perspectives, leadership insights and real-world scenarios, the Forum will explore how organisations navigate challenging moments, respond in real time, rebuild confidence and strengthen cultures of safety, quality and accountability.
The program will examine what happens before, during and after a compliance or risk challenge, including communication with families, workforce confidence, organisational learning, insurance considerations, social media pressure and the rebuilding of trust.
At its core, the Forum is anchored in three practical leadership priorities being prevention, response and recovery. It will support early learning services and providers to reflect on their current approach, learn from others and move forward with confidence in a future that is unequivocally child safety led.
This is more than a traditional compliance conference.
It is a practical leadership forum about recovery, confidence and what it really takes to build sustainable, well-governed ECEC organisations in an operating environment that is undeniably in transition.
Our Panelists
Jason Roberts
Paul Mondo
Stacey Fox
Fiona Alston
Jenni Gaffney
Brendon Anderson
Lisa Jones
Phoebe Netto
Susie Wilson
Samantha Dellamarta
Leigh Harper
Our Program
We will deliver three panel discussions with Q&A and an intimate “no holes barred” Fireside Chat with a leading ECEC Voice.
After a period of unprecedented reform, scrutiny and change, many providers are asking: what comes next?
This opening conversation brings together sector leaders to provide perspective on where the sector has been, what has changed, and why there is reason for confidence about the future.
Rather than focusing only on regulation and reform, this discussion will explore how the sector moves from reaction to rebuilding, strengthening trust, improving consistency and supporting providers to lead with confidence.
Delegates will leave with greater confidence about the road ahead, practical insight into what comes next, and a clearer understanding of how to continue building safe, resilient and high-quality services.
Every provider has experienced moments that have tested their leadership. The difference is what they learnt from them.
This session moves beyond policy and compliance theory to explore the real decisions, challenges and lessons that shape effective leadership in early childhood education and care.
Through honest conversations and lived experience, panellists will share how they navigated compliance failures, quality challenges, difficult regulatory interactions and organisational change. Rather than presenting perfect outcomes, the discussion will focus on practical problem-solving, continuous improvement and the leadership behaviours that help organisations become stronger after adversity.
Delegates will leave with practical insights they can immediately apply within their own organisations, along with greater confidence to identify risk early, strengthen governance and build cultures of accountability, learning and resilience.
As the sector moves from response into recovery, strong organisations are looking beyond compliance and asking a different question, what risks are we not seeing yet?
This panel brings together experts in risk management, insurance, governance and crisis communication to explore the issues that can impact providers before, during and after a significant event.
Rather than revisiting what has gone wrong, this conversation will focus on practical strategies, emerging risks and the systems leaders can put in place to strengthen organisational resilience.
Delegates will leave with new perspectives, practical considerations and a clearer understanding of the actions they can take today to protect their people, their reputation and the communities they support.
As expectations around governance and organisational accountability continue to evolve, providers are recognising that compliance alone is not enough. Building safe, high-quality services requires sustained investment in leadership, culture, systems and risk prevention.
In this exclusive fireside conversation, our guest will share their approach to strengthening organisational capability, including its investment in specialist safety leadership, governance, workforce capability and risk management.
Drawing on practical leadership experience, the discussion will explore how one of Australia’s largest providers is embedding safety beyond compliance, responding to emerging risks, supporting teams through change and building organisational resilience in an increasingly complex operating environment.
Our Venue
The Sector Connect+ is proud to host the Forum at Waterview in Bicentennial Park in the beautiful Bourke Room.
Located at 1 Bicentennial Drive, Bicentennial Park Sydney Olympic Park, Waterview blends modern elegance with tranquil park and lake views, offering the ideal setting for our Forum.
More information about public transport and parking options can be found here.
