Childcare giant hit with training orders and growth ban after ‘human mop’ incident

A childcare giant that operates 233 centres has been stripped of its right to expand after prioritising profits over protection in a scandal involving eight child victims.

One of Australia’s biggest early childhood education providers has been ordered to not open any more services and install CCTV after a string of incidents, including sex abuse charges against a former staffer.

The Minns government has also instructed Affinity Education Group to ensure all its staff undertake child protection training and put in place higher child-to-educator ratios than the rest of the country to ­ensure it is lifting standards.

The move follows revelations of child abuse within the centres operated by the childcare giant, including allegations of sexual abuse levelled at former employee Joshua Dale Brown.

Brown has been charged with sexually abusing eight ­victims at a childcare centre at Point Cook in Melbourne’s west. He is yet to enter a plea.

There have also been allegations of children being left unsupervised at Affinity centres due to understaffing, as senior staff were awarded cash bonuses and shares for growing child enrolments.

One of Australia’s biggest early childhood education providers has had training and child-to-educator ratios imposed after a string of incidents.

During a NSW parliamentary inquiry into childcare, ­Affinity chief executive Tim Hickey was asked to explain how the company had responded to an incident in which a child was used as a “human mop” to wipe up vomit by one of the centre’s educators.

Mr Hickey said the organisation had “capped the occupancy, no more growth” at the centre to “just totally focus on quality and safety”.

Former Affinity Education Group chief executive Tim Hickey. Picture: Youtube

Former Affinity chief operating officer Nishad Alani. Picture: Supplied

He later agreed, upon questioning by Greens MP Abigail Boyd, that insufficient staff ­increased the risk of harm to children.

Ms Boyd spoke of an Affinity ­centre in Elderslie “breaching ratio requirements” at the time that a two‑year-old suffered “serious injuries”. At another Affinity education centre in Rosebery, “a child slipped and suffered a face injury during a period of breaching ratio requirements”, she said.

Last month, Mr Hickey and chief operating officer Nishad Alani stepped down in the wake of the scandal embroiling the company. Affinity operates 233 services across the nation with 100 in NSW.

The Minns government introduced more than 30 reforms under the amended Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Act 2010, with staff now legally required to prioritise children’s safety and wellbeing above all other considerations.

An independent early learning regulator – the NSW Early Learning Commission – has also been established, while the government will invest a further $55m to fund more than 60 additional compliance staff.

Acting Education and Early Learning Minister Courtney Houssos said the reforms ensured the commission had ­effective tools to fight dodgy operators.

Child care operators who fail to comply face prosecution and a maximum penalty of $51,600, or $154,800 in the case of a large provider. The new laws also make it an offence for people working in early childhood education and care to subject a child to inappropriate conduct.

An Affinity Education Group spokesperson said its leadership team were focussed on providing the best childcare in Australia with complaints, breaches and staff turnover having decreased since changes to the executive and leadership were made in October, including the appointment of Glen Hurley as the new CEO and Nicola Page to the role of chief quality and

risk officer.

Affinity had also in August proposed a set of additional provider conditions - including that no new centres be opened - to the NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority to formalise and accelerate improvement work underway across child care centres, with these put in place in September.

“We proposed this approach in consultation with the regulator as we believe ensuring consistent high-quality, safe and consistent learning environments must take priority,” the spokesperson said.

“We recognise even one incident is too many, and our focus is on embedding strong governance, safe and nurturing environments, and high-quality education across all our services, ensuring every child is

supported to learn, grow and thrive.”

Other Affinity proposals that were agreed to by the regulator included improved complaints portal improvements, enhanced staff safety training while a CCTV rollout is already under way and continuing, the spokesperson said.

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Originally published as Childcare giant hit with training orders and growth ban after ‘human mop’ incident