Lack of supervision, hunger, forced sleep and down-time, and unhealthy meals are some of the consequences of falling standards in a childcare sector increasingly in the hand of for-profit operators, a government inquiry has been told.

The Centre for Policy Development stated in its submission to the Senate inquiry into early childhood education that the proportion of early childcare services rated as “exceeding” minimum standards has fallen from 32.5 per cent in 2018 to 17.8 per cent in 2023.