A woke childcare provider has been stripped of federal funding over multiple safety breaches, including rat poison and dog faeces left within children’s reach.
Laugh & Learn Family Day Care Education & Training this week became the first operator in Australia to lose its Child Care Subsidy approval under new Commonwealth powers introduced in response to concerns about safety standards in the childcare sector.
The provider, which posts about “diversity”, the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and “National Sorry Day” on social media, and operates family day care services for about 100 children out of 20 homes in the Melbourne’s north, said it intended to appeal.
The breaches were identified in March during unannounced visits to nine homes in Craigieburn where inspectors found bleach, paint, rat poison and dog faeces in areas accessible to children, an unsecured heavy bookshelf, and unsecured water features.
The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) ordered two of the nine homes to cease operating until they met required safety standards, and a further two homes were issued with warnings.
VECRA later issued a formal warning in April, stating that failure to comply could lead to prosecution, but after the provider failed to provide evidence that the breaches had been addressed within 14 days, its Child Care Subsidy approval was cancelled.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the provider had been warned about the issues but failed to show they had been fixed.
“If you don’t meet the standards, then you can have your funding cut. That wasn’t an idle threat,” Mr Clare said.
Mr Clare also said the government had issued compliance notices to 115 centres since the reforms were introduced last year.
“Of those, 47 addressed issues they had failed to resolve for years. A further seven centres voluntarily surrendered their licences before additional regulatory action was required,” he said.
“This is not the end of the process. We will continue to use these powers to ensure children remain safe.”
The Child Care Subsidy covers about 70% of the average cost of operating an early childhood education and care service – making it a major source of funding for providers – and most cannot afford to operate without it.
But a spokesperson for Laugh & Learn told the Herald Sun said the provider was the victim of a “witch hunt” and had complied with the previous orders.
“They said you can stay running but you can’t get CSS money. But if they thought we were a risk, why would they leave us up and running – can you hear the contradiction?” she said.
“No incidents were reported, no children were injured. You’ve got reports of that from childcare centres every day. This is so unjust.”
The defunding comes amid wider concerns about safety standards in the early childhood sector, and earlier this year a major provider shut 40 centres after a mass exodus of parents sparked by worker at one of its Melbourne locations being charged with 70 child sex offences.
A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the childcare sector is underway, with hearings continuing throughout this month and a final report expected on July 30.
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