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
  

• QuickCare
  

• Kids and Traffic

While respecting Chatham House Rules, the topics covered included:

• Child Safety Reforms

• Child Protection & Child Safety Training

• Personal devices ban

• 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 services (ie not-for-profit)

• 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.

For any further information/clarification/assistance, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

PUBLISHED: 26 MAY 2026