2025 in Review: A Defining Year for Child Safety Law and Reform in Australia

A 2025 in Review: A Defining Year for Child Safety Law and Reform in Australia

2025 was a defining year for child safety, marked by unprecedented legislative reform, damning reviews, and sustained public scrutiny of how organisations protect children and young people. As we move into 2026, it is timely to reflect on the year that fundamentally reshaped Australia’s child safety landscape.

Across Australia, governments responded to serious safeguarding failures with new laws, strengthened regulatory frameworks, and system-wide reviews. The result was a clear shift away from reactive compliance and toward stronger accountability, prevention and cultural
change.

This article provides a summary of the key legislative changes and major child safety headlines from 2025, capturing the developments that continue to shape obligations for organisations in 2026.

A National Reset on Child Safety

Strengthening Child Safety in Early Childhood Education and Care

One of the most significant developments in 2025 was the passage of national reforms strengthening child safety under the National Quality Framework (NQF) for early childhood education and care.

Driven by widespread concern about abuse, regulatory gaps and inconsistent enforcement, governments agreed to reforms designed to place children’s safety, rights and best interests at the centre of early childhood regulation. Many of these reforms commenced in late 2025, with further regulatory amendments and quality standard changes taking effect in 2026.

These changes include:

• Clearer and accelerated incident notification and reporting requirements, particularly for physical and sexual abuse;
• Stronger expectations around child safety culture, supervision and digital safety;
• Expanded regulatory powers and enforcement mechanisms;
• Increased accountability for providers to actively prevent harm, not simply respond to it.

Further information about the changes can be found here.

Victoria: A Rapid Review and Systemic Overhaul

Victoria was at the centre of child safety reform in 2025 following intense media scrutiny and allegations of abuse in early childhood settings. In response, the Victorian Government commissioned a Rapid Child Safety Review, which identified serious systemic weaknesses in regulation, oversight and workforce screening. The review concluded that existing safeguards were not consistently protecting children and recommended urgent reform. These reforms marked a significant shift in Victoria’s approach to child safety, reinforcing that safeguarding is a core governance responsibility, not an administrative task.

The Government accepted all recommendations and introduced wide-ranging changes, including:

• Strengthening the Working with Children Check (WWCC) scheme, with enhanced
  powers to suspend or cancel checks where safety concerns arise;
• Increased requirements for mandatory child safety training and workforce capability;
• Reforms to the Reportable Conduct Scheme, reinforcing organisational duties to
  respond to and report child-related misconduct;
• Structural and regulatory changes to improve oversight, information-sharing and
  enforcement.

Queensland: Child Safe Organisations Act Takes Effect

In Queensland, 2025 marked the commencement of the Child Safe Organisations Act (Act), bringing enforceable child safety duties into effect across a broad range of sectors. The Act introduced legally binding Child Safe Standards for organisations that work with or provide services to children, extending beyond schools and early learning to include sporting clubs, community organisations and service providers.

Key features of Queensland’s framework include:

• A positive obligation on organisations to embed child safety into governance,
  leadership and culture;
• A Reportable Conduct Scheme, requiring organisations to report and manage
  allegations of abuse or misconduct by workers;
• Clear accountability for boards and senior leaders to ensure child safety systems are effective and properly resourced.

Working with Children Checks: Momentum Toward National Consistency

Another important theme in 2025 was renewed national focus on reforming Working with Children Checks (WWCC). All jurisdictions committed to improving information-sharing, risk assessment and the ability to respond quickly when child safety concerns emerge. While implementation timelines differ, the direction is clear: screening systems must be dynamic and responsive, rather than one-off clearance mechanisms.

Media Headlines That Drove Reform

Legislative reform in 2025 was closely tied to sustained media attention on child safety failures. Throughout the year, headlines highlighted:

• Allegations of abuse, neglect and misconduct in early childhood and community
  settings;
• Regulatory failures and delayed responses by oversight bodies;
• The long-term harm caused when safeguarding systems break down;
• Calls from experts and advocates for stronger national action.

These stories reinforced a critical lesson: child safety failures are rarely isolated incidents. They are often the product of cultural, governance and systemic weaknesses, and they require systemic responses.

What This Means for Organisations in 2026

The reforms introduced in 2025 continue to shape expectations in 2026, with regulators and communities now clearer than ever about what is required of organisations that work with children and young people.

Organisations are expected to move beyond minimum compliance and:

• Adopt preventative, child-centred approaches;
• Embed child safety into governance, leadership and everyday decision-making;
• Invest in training, supervision and early intervention, and;
• Respond to concerns and allegations promptly, lawfully and transparently.

How Safe Space Legal Can Help

The team at Safe Space Legal have extensive safeguarding experience. We have worked with many organisations across Australia to ensure they are meeting their legal obligations and frequently conduct independent safeguarding investigations. We work with organisations to help build a culture of safety and accountability.

Safe Space Legal provides the following services to ensure organisations meet their legal obligations:

• Drafting legally sound policies, procedures, and codes of conduct;
• Providing policy audits and developing safeguarding policies, procedures, and
  complaint handing processes;
• Providing root cause analysis to identify gaps in policy and/or practice which put organisations at risk of non-compliance with their sector-specific obligations;
• Delivering training to workplaces to ensure they are aware of their legal obligations;
• Conducting safeguarding investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory legislation and regulations;
• Delivering safeguarding training to ensure organisations are aware of their sector-specific requirements and obligations;
• Ensuring that complaints handling and reporting processes are compliant with legal obligations;
• Provide sound legal advice on risk mitigation.

Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.