Education and Care Services Act 2013

This Act may be cited as the Education and Care Services Act 2013.

This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

This Act binds all persons, including the State and, to the extent the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Commonwealth and the other States.

Nothing in this Act makes the State liable to be prosecuted for an offence.

The object of this Act is to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of children attending a Queensland education and care service.

The ways in which the object is to be achieved include—

establishing a provider approval and service approval system for Queensland education and care services; and

regulating the way stand-alone services are conducted; and

setting standards for persons who provide education and care for children.

Queensland approved education and care services are to be conducted under the following principles—

the best interests of a child are the paramount concern;

education and care should be provided to a child in a way that—

protects the child from harm; and

respects the child’s dignity and privacy; and

promotes the child’s health and wellbeing; and

provides positive experiences for the child;

education and care should be provided to a child in a way that stimulates and develops the child’s creative, emotional, intellectual, lingual, physical, recreational, and social potential;

parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing, protection and development of children, and should be supported in that role;

education and care should be planned and provided in a way that—

involves parents and other members of the community; and

reflects the multicultural and multilingual nature of the community.

Stand-alone services are to be operated in a way that protects a child from harm and promotes the child’s health and wellbeing.

The dictionary in schedule 1 defines particular words used in this Act.

Regulated education and care is education and care provided to a child—

by someone other than a relative or guardian of the child; and

at a place other than the child’s home; and

for reward; and

in the course of a service for regularly providing education and care of children.

A Queensland education and care service or QEC service is a service for providing regulated education and care of children under 13 years of age but does not include any of the following services—

an approved education and care service under the Education and Care Services National Law (Queensland);

a service, for providing primary, secondary or special education, conducted by a school;

a service principally conducted to provide—

regulated education and care to patients in a hospital or patients in a medical or therapeutic care service; or

residential facilities; or

instruction in a particular activity, including, for example, dance, music or a sport; or

tutoring, coaching or religious instruction; or

a recreational activity, including, for example, a camp or party;

Examples for paragraph (c)—

hospital, boarding facility for school students, dance academy, sporting club, Sunday school, scout group

a service for which, usually, the children to whom care is provided are entirely or mostly different on each occasion the care is provided;Example for paragraph (d)—

a service, conducted by a hotel or resort, to provide child care to children who are short-term guests

a service in which the only education and care provided is—

holiday care; or

adjunct care;

a service that is, under the Child Protection Act 1999, a licensed care service, departmental care service or service provided as an approved carer;

a mobile service;

a service prescribed under a regulation.

To remove any doubt, it is declared that a service may be a Queensland education and care service even though it is—

an associated children’s service under the Education and Care Services National Law (Queensland); or

conducted by an entity that also carries on a school; or

conducted at premises at which a school is also carried on.

A stand-alone service is a QEC service that—

is not a QEC approved service; and

is not a service in which education and care is regularly provided to more than 6 children under the age of 13 at the same time.

A mobile service is a service that—

provides education and care to children who are not school children; and

transports equipment and material or staff from one or more locations on each occasion that the service is provided.

However, a service is not a mobile service if it is one of a number of services, with a common Queensland approved provider, that may use common equipment at separate premises on separate occasions, where there is a separate Queensland service approval in place for each premises.

A Queensland provider approval authorises the Queensland approved provider to operate a QEC service for which the approved provider holds a Queensland service approval.

A person may apply to the chief executive for a Queensland provider approval.

The application must be in the approved form and accompanied by any fee prescribed under a regulation.

The application may be made by more than one person.

If an application is made by more than one person—

the information required must be provided for each person; and

one address only must be provided for the persons; and

the requirements of this division must be complied with by each person.

The applicant also must provide any other relevant information reasonably required by the chief executive under section 16.