At the recent Inquiry into Child Care in NSW (https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/our-reports-and-reviews/independent-review-into-the-nsw-ecec-regulatory-authority) this phrase, slogan and meme has been repeated over and over in the face of the facts that it is simply not true.
Nothing sounds better than the slogans: ‘safety is our first priority’, ‘safety is our number one priority’ and ‘safety is our main priority’. Of course, we know that many other factors compete for priorities in business and organisations keen to make profits and pump the budget into executive remuneration. This is clear the case with the non-care of children in child care (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-11/family-day-care-under-scrutiny-as-nsw-childcare-inquiry-starts/105630400).
Yet, despite the fact that these providers (businesses) have been caught out, they have the hide to repeat over and over these meaningless slogans. This is the power of slogans. Say them over and over enough and in the end, you believe they are true. This is how all propaganda and indoctrination work.
You can listen to a podcast here of the allegations of non-care here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/childcare-nsw-inquiry-georgie-dent/105648266
These include: an anaphylactic child was fed a known allergen, babies were allowed to fall out of cots, and a lost child was found inside a washing machine! You can watch a news report here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1RvwSv1jwM
Yet, each of the two main providers of child care (Affinity Group and G8 Education) continued to babble on with slogans in the face of horrifying allegations of neglect included: allegations of child neglect, injuries to children, bullying of staff, understaffing of the service and the alleged sexual assault of a child by an educator (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/15/secret-rating-system-kept-parents-in-dark-about-allegations-of-abuse-at-nsw-childcare-centre-ntwnfb).
Executives of these organisations continued to receive bonuses and absurd remuneration of a base salary of $650,000 plus a $300,000 bonus. Safety first indeed.
When it comes to safety, don’t let anything get in the way of slogans and a financial windfall. It’s the best con in town and the suckers roll up to attend conferences and propaganda meetings hooked on slogans with no method, methodology or ethic! Indeed, I read some HOP propaganda yesterday that talked about HOP slogans as ‘undebatable’ and non-changeable ‘truths’. One of the key statements in this goop was that ‘errors are predictable’. Of course, they are, the easiest sell on the planet to an uncritical industry that is yet to understand what it means to be professional. You could make this stuff up.
It wouldn’t take much research to turn upside down the delusions of the safety industry that fosters snake oil as ‘principles’ and slogans as ‘virtue’. Of course, all coming from sources with no expertise in culture, education, learning or ethics. The source spruiking ‘principles’. ‘truths’ and ‘infallibility’ in HOP was a chemical engineer.
Whenever you hear any of these slogans like ‘safety is our number one priority’ or ‘blame fixes nothing’ you know that there is a hidden reality that masks unethical conduct. When doing any background research just follow the money trail and ask about the fee. There’s no better money earner in safety than selling a delusion to the gullible that seek perfection (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/). We saw this at the Zero Congress in Sydney in 2025 (https://safetyrisk.net/safetyzero-culture/).
Perhaps you might like to research about the nature of indoctrination and propaganda here:
- The Nature of Indoctrination and its Role in a Proper Education
https://escholarship.org/content/qt5w43z8cw/qt5w43z8cw_noSplash_0f8ed805b826fab30cae6967cf75f986.pdf
- The problem of indoctrination, with a focus on moral education
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355628106_What_Is_Indoctrination
https://goodtimesweb.org/industrial-policy/2014/PropagandaedwardBernays1928.pdf
https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Ellul_Jacques_Propaganda_The_Formation_of_Mens_Attitudes.pdf
- The Linguistic Properties of Effective Slogans
https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/50/5/865/7162691
- Short- and Long-Term Effects of Conscious, Minimally Conscious and Unconscious Brand Logos
- The Collective Unconscious at the Organizational Level: The Manifestation of Organizational Symbols
But hey, don’t let any research get in the way of making some easy $$$. Don’t let a little indoctrination upset that bank balance or lucrative income. Just keep those slogans running, market them as ‘principles’ and watch Safety roll in to pump up the tyres.
brhttps://safetyrisk.net/safety-is-our-first-priority-until-caught-out/
Prompt