Full list: The 37 Australian childcare centres on notice for falling below national standards

Eight more Australian childcare centres have been given up to 12 months to improve their standards or face losing government funding under tough new compliance legislation.

Another eight Australian childcare centres have been put on notice to improve their services.

Another eight Australian childcare centres have been given a hard deadline within the next 12 months to improve their services or risk losing their funding.

A total 37 childcare centres across the country are now on notice, following legislation passed in federal parliament last month that gives the Albanese government the power to strip funding from centres who are consistently falling below the national quality benchmark.

The new centres include two from New South Wales, one from Queensland and South Australia, three from Victoria and one from Western Australia.

All new centres currently have a National Quality Rating of working towards national quality standards (NQS).

While most have been given until February next year to improve their rating to meet the NQS, Little Explorers Early Learning in Merrylands has been given until May next year, while Community Kids Cessnock Early Education has until August.

Community Kids Cessnock is owned by childcare provider G8 – which is one of the first major for-profit centres to be put on notice.

The majority of other centres on the list are owned by smaller providers or private groups, while North Metro Family Day Care Scheme is operated by the South Australian Department of Education.

The NQS is the benchmark for children’s health, safety and education in all early learning environments including childcare, family daycare, after school hours care, and kindergarten.

The 37 centres issued with warnings were given two days to notify parents they had been put on the federal government’s Enforcement Action Register, which was triggered by them having a subpar rating for at least seven years.

The Department of Education has made it clear the actions do not relate to criminal allegations, which are handled separately by state regulators and law enforcement authorities.

The NQS is the benchmark for children’s health, safety and education in all early learning environments.

Instead, examples of reasons for services not meeting national quality standards include failures to provide for play area safety, hygiene, staff training or supervision.

Education Minister Jason Clare said last month the new legislation was “not about closing centres down, it was about lifting standards up”.

“Over the next six months, these centres will need to lift their game or they will face further consequences including the cutting off of funding,” he said.

“This action puts those centres on notice that they need to put the safety of our children first.”

Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh added the government would make “no apologies for putting (children’s) safety and wellbeing first and foremost”.

“The vast majority of providers and educators are decent, dedicated professionals who care deeply about safety and the quality of early childhood education and care they provide,” she said.

“We want to see regulators working with these centres to get them up to standard so they can continue to provide important services for their communities.”

The crackdown on childcare compliance is among a number of reforms coming into effect following the emergence of damning allegations made against the country’s childcare sector.

They also follow more than 70 charges made against alleged pedophile Joshua Brown, who was a childcare worker in Victoria for seven years before he was found to have allegedly committed child sexual offences.

The 37 centres issued with warnings were given two days to notify parents they had been put on the federal government’s Enforcement Action Register.

Another change coming into effect this month included the Starting Blocks website – which provides parents with information on childcare centres – undergoing an upgrade to make accessing information about service quality ratings more accessible.

Other changes that came into effect from September 1 included the requirement for childcare services to have a policy around digital technologies such as banning personal devices, to be free of vaping substances and having just 24 hours to report any incidents or allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child – down from seven days.

More reforms such as trialling CCTV in centres, an increase in unannounced spot checks, increased penalties for offences and mandatory child safety training are expected to be rolled out in the coming months.

State education ministers will meet with Mr Clare again in October to discuss further changes that could be made to improve the nation’s childcare sector.

Originally published as Full list: The 37 Australian childcare centres on notice for falling below national standards