Child sexual abuse is one of the most confronting challenges any society can face. It is abhorrent, and its ripple effects are profound not only for victim-survivors, but also for families, communities, and the frontline workers who carry the weight of response. It is only human to meet this horror with urgency, even panic.
But we must resist the temptation to seek a quick fix. There is no single solution, no single setting, no single profile of risk. Protecting children requires a coordinated, data-driven national response that recognises it is systems not individuals alone that either safeguard children or allow harm to occur.
Recent allegations of child sexual abuse in early childhood centres have rightly sparked public outrage. Yet these cases are neither new nor isolated. What is new is the growing public awareness that the systems designed to protect children spanning early education, health, regulation, and justice are not working as they should.
The 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a landmark moment. It laid bare how institutions failed children and how those failures were concealed, delivering more than 400 recommendations to guide reform. But it was never meant to mark the end of this work.
Since then, the landscape of harm has changed. Children now face new and layered risks, from online grooming and cross-border abuse networks to under-regulated private childcare and patchy quality standards across states and territories.
Investigations by Four Corners and the University of Sydney reveal troubling gaps. Around 10 per cent of childcare services have never been assessed. Many operate with critical staff shortages or repeated waivers of qualification requirements. Seventy per cent of long day care is now run for profit, where cutting costs can compromise safety and quality. Regulatory mechanisms are simply not keeping pace.
These failings are not abstract. They are the gaps through which offenders slip. Recent research led by Professor Michael Salter found that nearly 10 per cent of Australian men report sexually abusive behaviour towards children many with no criminal record, employed in trusted roles, undetected due to fragmented oversight and enforcement.
The public is now asking the right question: what can be done? Risk is not reduced by kneejerk reactions. It is reduced by national consistency, evidence-based screening, trauma-informed oversight, and systems that leave no room for ambiguity or avoidance.
Yet today, no agency is responsible for ensuring the Royal Commission’s recommendations are implemented. Despite the Royal Commission’s 2017 recommendation for the National Office for Child Safety (NOCS) to transition to a statutory authority, this critical reform has never been realised.
NOCS plays an important role in policy leadership, but lacks the statutory powers to enforce standards, mandate compliance, or intervene when systems fail. It cannot investigate, prosecute, or compel cross-jurisdictional action. Without a robust national mechanism, systemic failures go unchecked.
We need more than policies on paper. We need decisive action.
That is why we are calling for a new, forward-looking National Inquiry into systemic child sexual abuse, exploitation and harm. One that does not only revisit institutions, but examines the digital, regulatory, and social systems that shape risks today.
This Inquiry should explore:
- The rising production and circulation of child sexual abuse material within Australia
- Emerging patterns of familial and hybrid online–offline exploitation
- Gaps and inconsistencies in professional regulation and enforcement
- Workforce shortages across early childhood, health, and disability services
- Inadequate survivor support and access to justice
- The lack of national accountability for upholding child safety standards
Every child deserves to be safe in childcare centres, classrooms, hospitals, out of home care, sports clubs, and online. But our protective systems are not keeping pace with the risks children face.
We can’t afford to waste time assigning blame the urgency lies in fixing the systems that continue to allow harm. Governments must act with coherence, urgency, and care.
The first step is recognising that we are no longer confronting institutional failures alone. We are facing failures in system design, enforcement, and accountability. A new National Inquiry is not just warranted. It is essential.
Feature image: Katherine Berney and Professor Michael Salter.
The Victorian Government has established a webpage with information for families affected by the allegations that can be found at www.vic.gov.au/childcare-centres-investigation.
If you or someone you know needs support, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or you can contact Brave Hearts on 1800 272 831.