Sex offenders must be identified to protect children, Peter Dutton demands

A national register of child sex offenders will be considered by state and territory governments after police charged a childcare worker over the alleged serial rape of dozens of young girls.

Governments are reviewing child safety laws. Picture: istock.

A national register of child sex ­offenders will be considered by state and territory governments after police charged a childcare worker over the alleged serial rape of dozens of young girls.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has ordered a review of “working with children’’ checks to close a loophole that may let paedophiles move interstate to work with children undetected.

And Peter Dutton is pushing for a national register of pedophiles to help schools and childcare centres identify predators.

New rules for the use of smartphones and tablets in childcare centres, as well as the open-plan design of childcare centres and tougher requirements for staffing and supervision, will be considered by the nation’s education ministers in October.

Mr Clare on Wednesday said he had triggered a review of child safety laws after a secret police briefing last October.

Ten months before laying charges against a former childcare worker on Tuesday, the AFP had briefed Mr Clare about Operation Tenterfield – Australia’s worst ­alleged pedophilia case involving the abuse of 91 children in daycare centres spanning 16 years.

“These are shocking allegations,’’ Mr Clare said.

“I have requested a review of child safety arrangements be conducted by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. It is looking at child protection safeguards nationally and within states and territories, including working-with-children check processes, mandatory reporting, and teacher-registration processes.

“The safety and protection of children attending early childhood education is the highest priority for all governments,” he added.

Education Minister Jason Clare has requested a review by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority into safety arrangements following the allegations.

Mr Clare said he had instructed ACECQA to “work closely with the AFP” to fix flaws in childcare safety.

The AFP charged a 45-year-old Gold Coast man on Tuesday with 1623 child abuse offences including 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10.

Police say the alleged abuse of little girls took place in 10 childcare centres in Brisbane, one in Sydney and one overseas between 2007 and 2022.

Police have not named the man or the centres, but they revealed they were alerted to the alleged abuse by photos posted online, and tracked the alleged offender by identifying a bed sheet.

A furious NSW Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday demanded that all states share information about “red flags’’ over teachers and childcare workers.

He called for an “immediate meeting of federal and state ministers to demand progress urgently on better information sharing between jurisdictions’’.

“We are taking steps to look at any gaps in our system, and our regulations, to strengthen child protection in this state,’’ he told state parliament. “I want NSW to lead in this important area of national reform.’’

NSW Education Minister Prue Car said she would stop offenders “jumping between sectors’’ to avoid detection.

The existing working-with-children checks differ in each state and territory, and disciplinary action or dismissals do not show up in national police checks, which focus on charges and convictions.

Ms Car called for a streamlined national check and better data sharing between states and territories, as well as government agencies.

“I will be reviewing whether oversights could be strengthened and streamlined so that any red flags in one sector are visible to other agencies and other jurisdictions,’’ she said.

“We will apply this to the early childhood and school sector.

“I’ll be talking to colleagues in the independent and Catholic sectors to ensure there are no way offenders can jump between sectors to avoid detection.’’

Queensland Child Safety Minister Craig Crawford phoned NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington “to discuss how we can further protect children’’.

“I support the call for an urgent out-of-session state and territory ministers’ meeting,’’ he said. “We need to demand better data sharing across jurisdictions, agencies and state borders.’’

Mr Dutton – a former policeman whose wife Kirilly sold her childcare centre in Brisbane last year – called for a national registry of child sex offenders.

“The registry might have been one element that could have averted further victims falling at the hands of this individual in relation to the alleged offences that have taken place,’’ the Opposition Leader told federal parliament.

The Parenthood, an advocacy group for families, demanded national cabinet make child protection a priority. “Where discrepancies exist between states and territories on working-with-children checks, this is the time to unite and iron them out to create a single system that makes it easy for (childcare) operators to confidently hire the qualified staff they so sorely need,’’ acting chief executive Jessica Rudd said.

“We have seen what can happen when governments work in lock-step, we saw this during the pandemic.

“We would like this to be a priority so we can ensure our children are safe and checks conducted on people working with children are consistent no matter where they live.’’