The Australian childcare industry, valued at approximately $20 billion, is under severe scrutiny following allegations of neglect and malpractice highlighted in a recent episode of *60 Minutes*. The report, aired on a Sunday night, featured disturbing accounts from parents and former employees about conditions in various childcare centres.
Felicity, a 19-year-old former apprentice childcare worker, recounted her disillusionment after entering the field with enthusiasm. “I wasn’t being trained to be an educator. I was trained to be a babysitter to just get through the day,” she said. Understaffing often left her alone with distressed infants, forcing her to neglect some children temporarily. “It was very overwhelming,” she stated, describing her experiences at Angel’s Paradise in Wagga Wagga. This centre was suspended by the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education last year in light of serious allegations, which it has strongly denied.
Parents have shared alarming claims about the treatment of children in these facilities. Peter Davis, a former police officer, reported that his son sustained a urinary tract infection and suffered a head injury while in care. “There was a head injury where he had a large egg on his head,” Davis recounted. He filed a formal complaint with the Education Department in 2023, leading to a regulatory investigation that uncovered 23 breaches of care standards, including infants eating scraps from the floor. As a consequence, Angel’s Paradise was permanently shut down in May; however, its owner, John Tanios, is appealing the closure and has re-registered the centre under a new name.
In response to the allegations, Tanios stated, “The care of children was always good… our day-to-day operations were second to none.” He acknowledged some hygiene breaches but minimized their frequency, saying, “It may have happened two times, three times, I don’t know.” Security footage provided by Tanios depicts a child who had fallen and suffered a broken collarbone, challenging the Department’s findings regarding safety risks at the centre.
The report also revisited the tragic death of toddler Arianna Maragol at The Berry Patch in Sydney in 2018. Her parents, Jozef and Anet, expressed their grief over staff relying on CCTV for monitoring during sleep time, leading to a devastating outcome. “A doctor came and he said to us, ‘I’m sorry, Arianna passed away,’” Anet recalled tearfully. Despite prior warnings about unsafe practices, the centre had received a rating of “exceeding” from the regulator. “They failed so badly,” Anet said.
In Melbourne, the situation escalated further with allegations against childcare worker Joshua Brown, who is facing over 70 criminal charges related to the abuse of infants as young as five months. His lawyer, Jodie Harris, has initiated a civil lawsuit, stating that systemic failures allowed him to continue working despite being dismissed from two previous centres. “Had there been a register in place… perhaps it would’ve raised quite a number of red flags,” Harris suggested.
In light of these alarming issues, Education Minister Jason Clare acknowledged the need for reform, stating that the situation “shouldn’t have come to this.” He announced a comprehensive reform package worth $189 million, which includes more frequent spot checks, stricter penalties for non-compliance, and the creation of a national register for childcare workers. Clare emphasized, “If you don’t meet the standards, you don’t get the funding. The centre doesn’t operate. You don’t make any profits.”
Despite the proposed changes, experts are skeptical about their effectiveness. Professor Marianne Fenech from Sydney University stated that reliance on for-profit providers has historically compromised quality. “The foundation needs to change,” she asserted.
For Felicity, the path to improvement lies in fostering trust and ensuring adequate staffing in childcare centres. She hopes to establish her own facility based on these principles, urging parents to listen to their children’s feelings about their care situations. “Trust your child. If your child doesn’t like being there, you need to listen to that,” she advised.
The unfolding crisis in the childcare industry has sparked a vital conversation about the safety and well-being of children, highlighting the urgent need for accountability and reform.
