EXCERPTS.
It appears more and more likely that serious reforms will be made in the monitoring of childcare services in this state.
But as our special investigation reports today, they can't come quickly enough.
Serious lapses by childcare centres, as highlighted in our report, include cases of toddlers being injured or left unattended.
And yet most of these centres have gone unpunished or have been given only minimal fines. On average, only four or five centres are prosecuted each year.
In one case, a childcare centre escaped any charge despite allowing a two-year-old to walk out of the centre and cross a busy road to get to a sports oval.
Clearly there has been a lamentable lapse in the duty of care, and not just by certain childcare centres but also by the Education Department, which is responsible for imposing the standards.
More substantial penalties need to be applied to show these operators that when it comes to our children, only the best care will do.
- reprinted from the Herald Sun