Deb Knight: 'The childcare overhaul has unveiled a gobsmacking reality'

OPINION -- When parents drop their little ones to childcare, there are many concerns and doubts; most just niggling worries about whether you've forgotten their drink bottle, or if you've packed enough spare clothes for accidents or overzealous finger painting. 

The assumption is that your child will be safe. 

For Australian parents however, the sickening allegations of systematic sexual abuse by childcare workers in multiple centres across several states have shocked and shattered trust in a system that is meant to have care at its core.

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It's hard to fathom the horror of thousands of parents being told their children would need blood and urine tests to check for exposure to infectious diseases after a Melbourne childcare worker was charged with a string of alleged offences, including rape.

Eight children who were allegedly harmed were under the age of two. One of the victims was just five months old. 

An urgent crackdown has been long overdue, and finally steps have been taken to better protect our precious children. 

State and Federal Education Ministers have agreed to a $189 million childcare funding package to improve safety in the sector, including the trial of CCTV cameras in up to 300 centres, as well as a ban on workers using their personal mobile phones.

These are welcome first steps and should be rolled out over a period of months rather than years across the whole sector. 

It's reassuring privacy has not emerged as an argument against the CCTV trial. Too often the rights of the individual are given greater weight when safety must be at the forefront. 

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Given a choice between protecting children from sexual abuse and assault, and protecting the privacy of a worker not wanting to be watched on the job – there's no argument. Safety must come first. 

It is gobsmacking that some of the key changes were not already in place. 

Why has it taken this long to have a national childcare worker register? How could we have allowed a system where a person banned from working with children in one state would not raise red flags when moving to another? 

And how could mandatory national safety training in childcare centres not have already been a given? The system is called Child CARE. Safety is essential. It's hard to believe that national safety training for workers was not already fundamental. 

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Of course, national standards and training and CCTV won't stop the worst of the worst from preying on vulnerable children. The debate over whether men should be allowed to work in childcare continues.

For parents, though, the assumption that your child will be safe when in care must be the reality.

For our children's sake.

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