The Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Amendment Act 2025 (NSW)
The Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Amendment Act 2025 amends how the National Law applies in NSW to strengthen the safety and wellbeing of children in ECEC. The Act responds to findings from the independent review into early childhood education and care regulation in NSW which found the NSW ECEC Regulatory Authority was significantly constrained by the National Law in its ability to take swift and effective regulatory action.
The legislative changes in the Act fast-track and significantly expand on nationally agreed reforms. While some improvements to the National Law are being developed, these reforms go further and implement nationally agreed reform for children in NSW now.
Legislative changes
The legislative changes give the regulator stronger tools to safeguard children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in NSW, including higher penalties and clearer enforcement powers.
The Act legislates more than 30 reforms, including:
An obligation for services to prioritise child safety, including compulsory child protection training and child safe recruitment practices. Parents will be notified when the regulatory authority commences an investigation into a serious incident to ensure they are aware of what is happening in their child’s service.
A 900 per cent increase to maximum penalties for large providers operating 25 or more services, across all offences.
New powers enabling the Regulator to publish more information about high-risk services, including details of current investigations.
Authority for the Regulator to suspend or revoke quality ratings during or following investigations.
Strengthened whistleblower protections.
A legal obligation for the early childhood sector and the Regulator to put the rights and best interests of children above all else, ensuring their safety and wellbeing are at the centre of every decision.
Greater transparency for families, with services expected to display a short-form compliance history at their premises and on their website, providing families with more transparency about their child’s service.
Tripled penalties in line with nationally agreed changes.
Authority for the Regulator to suspend or impose supervision orders on individual educators.
Making it an offence for people providing, or working in, early childhood education and care to subject a child or children to inappropriate conduct.
Extending the limitation period for offences to be prosecuted. Consistent with the national approach, NSW will now apply the limitation for offences from when the regulator is notified, not the date of the offence.