NT Coroner focus on popular pool fence following the childcare centre death of toddler Ebony Thompson
An Aussie family has called for a hidden hazard in many Aussie backyards and childcare centres to be banned following the tragic accidental hanging of their ‘little pudding’. WARNING: Distressing.
The accidental hanging of a little girl who was left unmonitored for 10 minutes in a childcare centre has sparked national calls to ban a popular fence found in many Aussie backyards.
A coroner has called for the early childcare regulator and the government to review national fencing standards and alert the public to the danger of looped-top fences following the death of Ebony Thompson in September 2023.
On Friday, NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage determined that the 22-month-old likely accidentally hanged herself while trying to peek over a hip-high gate to watch the chickens at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre, a rural daycare 40km from Darwin.
Ebony had been unsupervised for less than 10 minutes, after staff failed to notice that she had wandered down the known hazardous, playground blind spot on August 31, 2023.
By the time she was discovered, Ebony had been trapped between the loops of the fence for at least four minutes and was unconscious, unresponsive and turning blue.
Despite being raced to a nearby doctor’s clinic, Ebony was unable to be revived and passed away at Royal Darwin Hospital two days later on September 2, 2023.
On Friday the NT coroner Elizabeth Armitage said her preventable and unexpected death had devastated her family, friends and the wider community.
“Parents entrust their children to childcare services every day and expect to collect them healthy and well every evening,” Ms Armitage said.
“Ebony’s unexpected death invokes fear in all parents of young children and is a tragedy and source of anguish for her family, friends and the wider community.”
At the time of her death, the only regulation around childcare centre fencing was that kids should not be able to not squeeze through or under, or be able to climb over the barriers.
Kidsafe Queensland President Ruth Barker told the inquest that childcare centre fencing standards had fallen behind the Australian Standards and building codes for children’s spaces, which recommend “flat top rails”.
Senior forensic pathologist Marianne Tiemensma told the inquest that even a small amount of pressure on a child’s neck — such as being caught between the loops — could cause unconsciousness in as little as 10 seconds, and without oxygen irreversible brain damage could occur within three minutes.
Ms Armitage frankly said the childcare national fencing laws were “inadequate” to address the strangulation dangers posed by these popular fences, found throughout many centres and around backyard pools.
“The regulation is silent on the risks of entrapment and its minimal terms effectively authorised the presence of the lethal loop-topped chicken coop gate,” she said.
“Following Ebony’s death this lack of awareness must change.”
The Thompson family have called for the looped top pool fences to be banned across Australia, however due to the standardisation of early education regulations the inquest was told that all states and territories had to be on-board for any change.
Quality Education and Care Northern Territory Katy Brennan said any changes to childcare fencing standards fell under the National Framework, meaning the NT “could not act unilaterally”.
Instead Ms Armitage called on the NT Government to undertake a public awareness campaign to alert the public “to the entrapment and strangulation risks of loop and rod topped fencing”.
She also called for the Education Department to strengthen fencing standards throughout childcare centres, and advocate for these changes to be pushed Australia-wide through the National Quality Standards.
Ms Armitage called for the regulator to develop and conduct supervision audits across all childcare centres in the Territory and for clear penalties for those who fail to take part, for inspectors to be trained to identify strangulation risks from fences and playground equipment, and to conduct barrier and blind spot inspections during their regular site visit.
The regulator told the inquest that it had increased all “it activities”, and all NT childcare centres would be subject to a supervision audit from February 2025, including photographs of all blind spots and fencing.
Ms Armitage also called for Kidsafe Factsheets to be distributed to all Territory childcare services providers, and for the department to work with centres to work with child safety experts during playground inspections and service risk assessments.
The coroner’s recommendations fall short of the 12 sweeping policies advocated by the Thompson family under ‘Ebony’s law’, which called for mandatory six month supervision audits and regular spot checks, standardised high risk hazard policies, mandated annual compliance checks, firmer staff to child ratios, and increased powers for NT WorkSafe.
Critically, her family called for a three-strike rule for breaches of supervision obligations, with violations risking a centre being temporarily closed until issues are addressed.
NT Early Education Minister Jo Hersey said she welcomed the coroner’s report and would “thoroughly review” all seven of the recommendations.
“First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family who live with the loss of their daughter Ebony who died under tragic circumstances,” Ms Hersey said.
“The case has raised broader issues around early childhood supervision, risk assessment, emergency response and regulatory oversight.”
The Education and Training Department said Ebony’s death was a “profound tragedy that has touched the hearts of every parent across the Territory”.
A spokeswoman said the department would provide advice to the Attorney-General on actions to address the recommendations.
“Our strong focus is to ensure that actions taken are practical, sustainable and achieve meaningful improvements to child safety across the Territory,” she said.
“QECNT has completed a Territory-wide supervision audit of all approved services, inclusive of targeted educative guidance consistent with their regulatory role.”
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Originally published as NT Coroner focus on popular pool fence following the childcare centre death of toddler Ebony Thompson
