Police will be grilled on how they are doing their job of protecting vulnerable kids after chilling reports of pedophiles targeting childcare centres.
A Senate probe into the quality and safety of Australia's early childhood education and care system will hold its first public hearing on November 19.
Federal police and child protection experts are expected to appear to give evidence on how they stop abusers targeting children and sharing abuse material online.
The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation reports it receives an average of 226 reports of child sexual exploitation every day.
"Families need to know the truth of what is happening in childcare; they need to know that we are doing everything possible to keep children across Australia safe," opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser said.
The inquiry will also investigate the effectiveness of childcare regulators and the effect of worker pay and conditions on safety in the sector.
"Australians expect the Commonwealth to use every lever it has to keep children safe, and we won't stop pushing until that happens," shadow attorney-general Andrew Wallace said in a statement.
Centres that breach safety rules will be named and shamed on a government website under a new scheme launched in September.
The probe was launched after a series of shocking reported incidents of child abuse in childcare centres across the country.
Victorian childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged in July with sexually abusing eight children under the age of two, setting the national reckoning in motion.
Little Zak's Academy at Doonside in western Sydney also shut its doors after two workers allegedly assaulted a toddler.
A state inquiry in NSW heard numerous cases of negligence in centres and accounts of how child protection watchdogs failed to keep track of workers with red flags on their records.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
