![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2a2e979a2f77f9b2102161098f9799257ba9f8b7f0bf962b7800e1f7784af1b9.png\")
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Updated July 28, 2026 \u2014 10:21pm,first published 7:33pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n One of Australia\u2019s largest childcare providers has banned class photos, citing child safety concerns, leaving photography businesses scrambling and disappointed parents without the treasured keepsakes.<\/p>\n Across the country, childcare centres are in a state of upheaval after a string of abuse incidents led to sweeping reforms banning staff from carrying mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets or any device capable of taking or transmitting images of children. It also created new rules on where photos and videos of children could be stored.<\/p>\n For Goodstart Early Learning, which has more than 660 centres across Australia, the risk of photographs beyond its control being manipulated is too high at present.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we can be certain that every photography session is conducted by a photographer who has strict controls on the storage and security of photographs of children, we won\u2019t be allowing commercial photography in our centres,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The phasing-out of traditional class photos comes at a time of growing debates and concern about the safety of children\u2019s images. Schools have been warned it is no longer safe to share student\u2019s images online<\/a> as artificial intelligence becomes weaponised.<\/p>\n Australian crime professor Michael Salter, an internationally recognised child sexual exploitation expert, said commercial photographers and childcare centres needed to change their practices.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is that images of children, especially high-quality resolution images of children, now have an additional currency and valence they didn\u2019t use to have,\u201d Salter said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s incumbent on parents to be very aware of the importance of preserving the privacy of their children. We are simply in an era where images and video is being scraped at scale. Internet service providers have not yet responded to the threat of this kind of data harvesting.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the photography industry and the education sector need to be alive to the risks and what minimum standards mean in this new environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article While regulations do not prohibit commercial photography, many centres have come to the realisation that once the images are taken, they hand over control to photographers to store and process images safely.<\/p>\n Queensland mum Carrie, who asked for her surname to be withheld, treasures the preschool photos of her children. But when she flicks to her son\u2019s album, the pictures suddenly stop.<\/p>\n \u201cIt came out of nowhere,\u201d said Carrie. \u201cMaybe in the big scheme of things, it is just a photo, but it is nostalgic to look back on. It\u2019s almost a rite of passage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The decision shocked early childhood photographers, some of whom had been snapping photos at the centres for decades, and triggered a \u201cmass wave of disruption and panic in the photography industry\u201d, said Queensland photographer Liz Teece.<\/p>\n While current laws and regulations do not ban third-party school photos, they do not explicitly outline a standard policy or procedure.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is interpreting the Australian Children\u2019s Education & Care Quality Authority regulations differently,\u201d said Teece.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had mass revolt from parents who just want their child\u2019s photo. It\u2019s been incredibly tough to say to families we are sorry, but we just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Sydney photographer Clayton Walker has spent more than $50,000 updating his systems, having cybersecurity experts examine the software and training his staff in mandatory child protection issues. Families can log in and delete their own child\u2019s photos at any time, even if the centre wants them active longer, and they do not keep images forever.<\/p>\n Goodstart said it hoped to be able to reintroduce class photography in the future. \u201cWe are always exploring ways to improve our systems and practices and will be happy to reintroduce commercial class photography when we can assure ourselves that it is as safe as possible and meets the requirements of the national model code.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of centres are making some pretty strong changes about their data and privacy policies and who they are allowing into the centre. It\u2019s just created change, and there\u2019s no particular one way that companies are doing it,\u201d said Walker.<\/p>\n He wishes the laws were clearer, as do other photographers, who have since formed an alliance, calling for official standards of consent, data security, child safety and professional conduct.<\/p>\n Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into Australia\u2019s besieged childcare, sector said those in charge \u201cstill haven\u2019t learnt the lesson\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe teachers and educators I speak to are exasperated at failures in leadership in this sector. Not a single one of them has identified to me concerns about professional photographers taking photos with prudent and standard privacy and safety conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Mum Carrie said the decision was confusing, given many centres used apps to share photos of their children throughout the day. She worries that too will soon disappear.<\/p>\n \u201cI hate that I have to work and send my kids to day care, so it is nice to get those little updates,\u201d said Carrie.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Queensland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f61a97623a3809e2ab72072ce06fa6bdea7de3e1.jpeg\")
Queensland mum Carrie said she was saddened when her children\u2019s childcare stopped photos.<\/p>\n![\"Children\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5d960418af998cc67e48172b40f34ce7bb1056c1.jpeg\")
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Emily Kowal<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 28, 2026 \u2014 10:21pm,first published 7:33pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-829307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}