❓ Mrs. Hayden raises concerns about Camp Australia's licence breaches and seeks assurance about children's safety. The Minister details regulatory oversight, a significant fine levied against Camp Australia for deception regarding enrolment numbers, and ongoing efforts to improve service quality and regulatory consistency.
AnsweredQoN 904Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CAMP AUSTRALIA —
LICENCE BREACHES
904. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the concerning situation
of childcare provider Camp Australia having a string of licence breaches,
including inadequate staff supervision, a child having poison sprayed in their
eyes, and another child leaving the school and wandering the streets
unsupervised. What is the minister doing to provide mums and dads certainty
about their children's safety under the supervision of childcare
providers?
LICENCE BREACHES
904. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the concerning situation
of childcare provider Camp Australia having a string of licence breaches,
including inadequate staff supervision, a child having poison sprayed in their
eyes, and another child leaving the school and wandering the streets
unsupervised. What is the minister doing to provide mums and dads certainty
about their children's safety under the supervision of childcare
providers?
AnswerView source ↗
People
might be aware that what happens with long-day care, early years education,
normal childcare centres, out-of-school hours care and holiday care is that
although many of these services are funded by the federal government, they are
regulated by the state government. Within the Department of Communities we have
a regulatory unit and I am very impressed with the work that it does. For
instance, most long-day care centres are visited at least once a year. The unit
does surveillance work on all those providers, including—I should have
mentioned this before—family day care services. The unit makes
unannounced visits and sometimes carries out surveillance of providers. The
case that has led to a significant find that was reported in the paper about
Camp Australia, which provides a number of after-school hours care services
around Western Australia, was not one in any of the circumstances that the
member referred to. It was licensed for a certain number of children, I think
at West Leederville Primary School, but it ended up enrolling a number
more than that. From memory, I think it was licensed for 30 children and it
ended up having over 40 children at different times. That is not good, and it
not only did that, but also was wilful in its subterfuge about that issue. Two
sets of books were kept and when inspections were done, it tried to hide that
information from the regulatory unit. That is the reason it got such a hefty
fine—the largest imposed in Western Australia. It was a significant
penalty for Camp Australia. If it is some comfort to families out there that
use Camp Australia, it should be noted that the ratios that were required for
the higher number of children who were present in the centre were still
maintained. In this particular breach, children's safety was not of
concern. It was really that they had more children than they were licensed for
and the level of deception that Camp Australia management was found guilty of.
At this stage, fines have been
issued to Camp Australia. When I have been asked to comment on this publicly, I
have made it clear that I have asked the department to work with Camp Australia
to see what measures can be put in place to ensure the quality of its services
across the state and that we can have some confidence in those services. There
will also be a review of the regulations nationally. We are part of a national
system. Although it is state law, we try to keep a national consistency across
those regulations as much as possible so that when providers operate across
state boundaries, they understand the rules. It is not good that Camp Australia
has had a number of breaches, and particularly the significant last breach of
which it was found guilty. But I think people can draw comfort from the fact
that we have a strong regulatory system that is particularly active here in Western
Australia. The findings against Camp Australia should give parents some comfort
that our regulatory unit is proactive and goes out there and inspects a number
of services throughout the state
might be aware that what happens with long-day care, early years education,
normal childcare centres, out-of-school hours care and holiday care is that
although many of these services are funded by the federal government, they are
regulated by the state government. Within the Department of Communities we have
a regulatory unit and I am very impressed with the work that it does. For
instance, most long-day care centres are visited at least once a year. The unit
does surveillance work on all those providers, including—I should have
mentioned this before—family day care services. The unit makes
unannounced visits and sometimes carries out surveillance of providers. The
case that has led to a significant find that was reported in the paper about
Camp Australia, which provides a number of after-school hours care services
around Western Australia, was not one in any of the circumstances that the
member referred to. It was licensed for a certain number of children, I think
at West Leederville Primary School, but it ended up enrolling a number
more than that. From memory, I think it was licensed for 30 children and it
ended up having over 40 children at different times. That is not good, and it
not only did that, but also was wilful in its subterfuge about that issue. Two
sets of books were kept and when inspections were done, it tried to hide that
information from the regulatory unit. That is the reason it got such a hefty
fine—the largest imposed in Western Australia. It was a significant
penalty for Camp Australia. If it is some comfort to families out there that
use Camp Australia, it should be noted that the ratios that were required for
the higher number of children who were present in the centre were still
maintained. In this particular breach, children's safety was not of
concern. It was really that they had more children than they were licensed for
and the level of deception that Camp Australia management was found guilty of.
At this stage, fines have been
issued to Camp Australia. When I have been asked to comment on this publicly, I
have made it clear that I have asked the department to work with Camp Australia
to see what measures can be put in place to ensure the quality of its services
across the state and that we can have some confidence in those services. There
will also be a review of the regulations nationally. We are part of a national
system. Although it is state law, we try to keep a national consistency across
those regulations as much as possible so that when providers operate across
state boundaries, they understand the rules. It is not good that Camp Australia
has had a number of breaches, and particularly the significant last breach of
which it was found guilty. But I think people can draw comfort from the fact
that we have a strong regulatory system that is particularly active here in Western
Australia. The findings against Camp Australia should give parents some comfort
that our regulatory unit is proactive and goes out there and inspects a number
of services throughout the state
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