Childhood safety sector guidance
On 1 September 2025
These important regulatory changes came into effect:
- services must have policies and procedures relating to the safe use of digital technologies. The department’s policy for safe use of digital technology in early childhood education and care settings can be read on the Department of Education and Training website
- reduced timeframes for reporting incidents or allegations of physical or sexual abuse from 7 days to 24 hours
- service environments must be free from vaping.
On January 2026
Refinements to the National Quality Standard commenced to sharpen the focus on child safety and explicitly reference child safety within Quality Areas 2 and 7.
The Guide to the National Quality Framework has been amended to reflect these changes.
Two new guides have been released by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) to help services prepare for the changes:
For more information, read ACECQA’s information sheet.
On 27 February 2026
Changes to the Education and Care Services National Law have taken effect, including:
- making the safety, rights and best interests of children the biggest consideration in the operation of an education and care service
- establishing a national early childhood worker register
- mandating only service-issued devices for taking images or videos of children
- mandating child safety and child protection training for all staff, volunteers and students.
For more information, see the national child safety reform presentation PDF (1.0 MB).