Childcare crisis as 1,700 violations reveal national failures

When I dropped my daughter in the daycare center for the first time, I cried in the car. I am not the only mother cried after a daycare center in the car. It is the fault that brings you. The only thing you keep is the comfort of knowing that you are in safe hands.

Last week a video received from ABC's 7.30 revealed a shocking moment. A childcare worker in an Affinity Education Center in South Strathfield hit a baby in the face while a colleague laughed – and filmed. The clip, which was shot in May 2023 and only nine seconds, was later uploaded to Snapchat. It is a moment when no parent ever has to imagine, let alone see.

But it is not an isolated incident. The film material is only one of hundreds of disruptive cases that have been uncovered in newly published regulatory documents that applied for the state's childcare authority according to the NSW -Greens ABIGAIL BOYD. The documents show that Affinity Education – one of the largest private childcare providers in Australia, with over 250 nationwide over 250 centers – achieved more than 1,700 regulatory violations in New South Wales between 2021 and 2024 alone. What is the actual one?

A former employee described chronic below and told 7.30 This cost reduction had conditions to uncertain levels and “serious incidents in the middle”. Another said young, under -qualified employees were simple because they were cheaper than trained specialists. The video, she said, was a symptom for this greater putrefaction.

The childcare worker involved was convicted of joint attacks and received a community correction order. It has been banned from work in childcare for 12 months. The colleague who filmed the incident resigned.

Tim Hickey, CEO of Affinity, apologized and said: “I would like to express again how much I am sorry that I could harmonize something like this in our care.” He added that the company acted quickly when the police informed her about the incident and insisted that it was not representative of “the committed, professional team that takes care of children every day”.

However, further examples from the same year suggest something else. In the elders, another employee was caught from affinity to CCTV to pull a child on the arm over the floor. In Epping, a child needed medical treatment after a pedagogue had torn them backwards and falsified his elbow. Both were also banned in childcare for 12 months.

These are not edge cases. They flash red signals. The documents show a failure pattern – and a regulatory reaction that is far too soft. Despite thousands of violations in the centers, fewer than ten fines were spent over three years.

What kind of society does that tolerate?

The system we rely on for our youngest citizens is overloaded, under -regulated and often unsure. Too many centers are operated like profit -oriented companies in which the well -being of children is a cost center. The employees are underpaid and thin. Experienced educators go. The gaps are filled by those who do not always have training or temperament for the job.

What we need are no longer subsidies alone. It is a structural reform. Real enforcement. A cultural change that treats nursing staff with respect and children as more than economic inputs.

My girls are now at school, so the daycare centers are long gone. I no longer feel guilty for work. But I am angry – angry with how easily we have accepted a system that fails too often the people who rely on the most.