WA child care centres: Productivity Commission report reveals shocking amount of serious incidents in 2024-25

Hundreds of children were hurt, unaccounted for or left unsupervised in WA child care centres in the past year, with new data showing the number of serious incidents soaring to a rate of more than eight a day. According to the Productivity Commission’s latest report on government services, 2286 serious incidents were recorded in WA early childhood education and care centres in 2024-25. That was up from 2154 the previous year and a 81 per cent increase on 1261 incidents recorded five years ago. The figures included 1827 incidents of injury, trauma or illness — such as broken limbs, seizures or severe asthma attacks — and 281 cases where a child was “locked in/out, taken away or unaccounted for”. Emergency services were called to attend 178 cases, up slightly from 161 the previous year. Out of the total 2286 incidents recorded in WA, 264 were associated with a confirmed breach of regulations. WA had the highest proportion of serious incidents related to a confirmed breach, with 11.5 per cent, compared with other jurisdictions. Nationally, nearly 8 per cent of serious incidents in 2024-25 were linked to breaches, double the 4.1 per cent rate first reported in 2019-20. The rate of cases reported in centres reached a new national high of 160 serious incidents per 100 National Quality Framework approved services. The report also warned that staff quality has decreased, with only 75 per cent of paid contact staff having three or more years experience — down from 82.1 per cent in 2021. Examples of serious incidents reported in WA in 2024-25 included a seven-year-old boy locked in a bus for more than 10 minutes in January last year when the temperature was 40C. Amity Early Learning Centre in Forrestfield was fined $36,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal. In August, 2024, a 16-month-old toddler was left behind at Mirrabooka’s Busy Bees centre when staff locked up and went home 20 minutes early. Maragon Australia Pty Ltd was fined $16,000. Last year, Early Childhood Minister Sabine Winton ordered a snap review to ensure child care safety protocols were up to scratch in the wake of horrific abuse allegations in Melbourne. WA announced plans to follow Victoria’s lead and ban phones in daycare centres, after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with more than 70 offences against babies and toddlers. About 1200 children had to have health checks for infectious diseases. The Cook Government’s snap review identified a 14 per cent rise in compliance issues in WA childcare centres, with reports rising to 5428 in 2024-25, up from 4677 the year before. But Ms Winton insisted the State’s regulatory regime was “robust and operating well.” “We will be supporting all recommendations of the snap review in principle, subject to ongoing work on a state and national level,” she told Parliament in August. “We will also invest $1.1 million to provide the education and care regulatory unit with additional capacity to enable increased compliance and quality measures of early learning services.” The review made five recommendations, including work to identify gaps in staff training, a requirement for compliance actions to be published and urged the State Government to “urgently” progress its bill to implement nationwide changes. The Education and Care Services National Law Application Bill 2025 was examined by an Upper House committee in October, that raised concerns about “vague and wide” modifications, and is due to return to the Legislative Council for further debate. Parliament will resume next week.