EFFIE BATEMAN | Lifestyle | Contact
A Four Corners investigation has unveiled that the nation’s for profit childcare centres have made a lot of dodgy people rich, as roughly one in ten centres fail to meet quality standards.
The six month investigation, which included interviewing childcare employees, parents, and experts, revealed that there has been a surge in serious incidents in the past year alone, with up to 26,000 cases of serious injuries, trauma, illness, sexual, physical or emotional abuse, missing children and even death.
Each year, it’s estimated more than 3,000 children are sent to hospital with injuries, which are a result of both neglect and willful harm.
Former employees revealed that they would often be severely understaffed and responsible for looking after a high number of children while also juggling multiple roles such as administration and cooking. This would lead them with no other choice than to leave children unsupervised.
Australia currently is the fourth most expensive country in the world for childcare, with childcare costs ranging from $70 to $220 per day, depending on location. Unsurprisingly, Sydney currently has the most expensive rates for childcare, with the average cost being between $150 – $200, though other major cities are not that far behind. Though living in regional areas will be cheaper, the need for childcare is so high, parents often find themselves on waitlists of up to two years.
Despite the childcare services industry generating billions in profit, Childcare workers receive, on average, $26 an hour – $6 less than what the average bartender earns.
Up to 95% of Australia’s childcare centres are controlled by private equity firms, publicly listed companies and international investment groups. Much like other for profit providers, this has led to many companies prioritising profit over quality, resulting in low paid and undertrained staff.
Affinity childcare, which is the third largest childcare provider in Australia, was found to be one of the worst offenders when it came to the mistreatment of staff, inappropriate child disciplining methods and inadequate safety standards, as well as covering up serious incidents. Many parents report not knowing that their child had been seriously injured at daycare.
Though Affinity Childcare was the focus of the investigation, many other childcare centre providers have also been accused of targeting profit over child welfare.
Affinity have since made statement in response to the investigation, saying it ‘took the mental health and wellbeing of staff seriously and was “deeply concerned to hear about these experiences.”
Multi millionaire tycoon Peter Dutton had no comments.
More to come.
