ACA NSW

UNPACKING THE NSW BUDGET 2026/2027

The NSW Treasurer (the Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC) has delivered his fourth budget today.

A summary for NSW's early childhood education and care sector of the NSW Budget 2026/2027 is available.

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/unpacking-the-nsw-budget-2026-2027

WORKER RETENTION PAYMENTS TO BE EXTENDED TO JUNE 2028

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/wrp-to-be-extended-to-june-2028

The Federal Government has announced that their Worker Retention Payments will continue until 30 June 2028.

Services that already get the WRP must not increase their fees by more than 5.8% between 8 August 2026 and 7 August 2027. And services applying for the funding for the first time must not increase their fees by more than 5.8% between 17 June 2026 and 7 August 2027.

ACA National has welcomed the Federal Government's commitment to wage funding for educators, teachers and services (https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/images/Documents/Media_Releases/2026-06-17-aca-welcomes-fedgov-wrp-commitment.pdf).

That said, the following appears to be more details yet to be announced, including what are the minimum Worker Retention Payment minimum rates and will there be changes to the Grant Guidelines?

For any further information/clarification/assistance, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or [email protected].

SHARE WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT YOUR VIEWS ON CCTV IN ECEC SETTINGS

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/latest-news/aca-national-update/share-with-the-federal-government-your-views-on-cctv-in-ecec-settings

As part of the Federal Government's commitment to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of children in early childhood education and care (ECEC), the government has agreed to undertake a national CCTV Assessment in up to 300 services across Australia (the Assessment)

NOTE: The Federal Government has allocated $15m for the services who participate. The NSW Government also has a parallel CCTV trial with 30 NSW-based services. At this stage, no details are available.

KPMG has been appointed by the Federal Department of Education to conduct an evaluation of the Assessment. As part of this evaluation, services, providers, educators, parents and carers are invited to share their views through a short survey.

Your feedback will help capture a range of different perspectives and ensure that all voices are heard and considered in shaping the future of safety and quality in ECEC settings.

The surveys to both audiences are open now. Participation is voluntary and responses are anonymous.

MORE DELAYS DISHONOUR MOLLY AND JUSTICE FOR 23 NSW CHILDREN

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/justice-delayed-is-justice-denied

ACA NSW has written to the NSW Attorney-General (the Hon Michael Daley MP) expressing how gutted our sector is with respect to the continuing delays with:

* the extradition back to NSW of NSW/Australia's worst pa******le to stand trial for the 180 charges against 23 NSW children. (since August 2023); and

* the sentencing of the murderer of early childhood educator Molly Ticehurst (since April 2024).

For the full article, please visit https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/justice-delayed-is-justice-denied

WHY IS OVERSUPPLY (STILL) OCCURRING?

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/why-oversupply-is-occurring-when-will-it-stop

It ought to be noted that about ten years ago, ACA and ACA NSW may be the very first to identify oversupply of early childhood education and care services and their negative consequences as early as 2016/2017.

In NSW, there are three primary contributors to oversupply:

* the National Competition Policy;
* the NSW State Environmental Planning Policy; and
* the NSW Department of Education's Assessment Panel Decision Making Framework.

For the full article, please visit https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/why-oversupply-is-occurring-when-will-it-stop

OH WHAT AN EVENING! ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL INNER CIRCLE!

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/the-sector-government-representatives-and-agencies-engaging-discussing-and-seeking-solutions

Thank you to ACA NSW members and non-members who attended last night's Inner Circle evening to hear from and engage with:

* Amy Birungi, Director, Cross Government & Partnerships (ECO), NSW Department of Education
* Rachael Ward, NSW Children's Guardian
* Amanda Paton, Australian Centre for Child Protection

Sadly, our industrial lawyer Nigel Ward was held up at the Fair Work Commission and was unable to attend. But ACA NSW CEO Chiang Lim stepped in at last minute.

Thank you also to our sponsors for the evening! You really helped and supported our sector!

* Guild Insurance
* Twinkl
* 1Place Childcare
* QuickCare
* Kids and Traffic

While respecting Chatham House Rules, the topics covered included:

* Child Safety Reforms
* Child Protection & Child Safety Training
* Personal devices ban (especially smartwatches)
* Banning “under the roof” in NSW vs the rest of Australia
* NSW Early Learning Commission
* WWCC compliance activities
* National Early Childhood Worker Registry
* Regulatory and operational workload
* Quality ratings vs children's outcomes
* An alternate approach to reform (eg co-regulation)
* Tax-paying (ie private) vs Non-tax-paying (ie not-for-profit) services
* the future of small-medium size services especially in NSW
* the National Quality Framework since 2012
* the incompleteness of the NSW Parliamentary Committee's Report on ECEC in NSW
* the effectiveness of training by TAFE and other RTOs (incl their respective Job Ready ratings by Skills NSW)
* the current and anticipated reforms in NSW vs the rest of Australia

The next Inner Circle evening will be on Monday evening, 19 October 2026.

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/events/2026-inner-circles

For any further information/clarification/assistance, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or [email protected].

NINE (9) NEW ECEC SERVICES AT NSW PUBLIC SCHOOLS FUNDED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

https://nsw.childcarealliance.org.au/news-current/nine-9-new-ecec-services-at-nsw-public-schools-funded-by-the-federal-government

Federal Ministers the Hon Jason Clare MP, Senator the Hon Jess Walsh and NSW Deputy Premier the Hon Prue Car MP announced on 21 May 2026 of the Federal Government's $59m funding the creation of 6+3 new early childhood education and care services that will have a projected 400 places (at $147,500 per place)