This article discusses incidents involving child harm. Some readers may find the content distressing. Please consider your own wellbeing before continuing.

A disturbing ABC investigation aired on 7.30 last night has prompted national outcry, exposing a string of serious incidents at Affinity Education centres and raising urgent questions about regulation, staffing and quality within Australia’s early childhood education and care syste

The report follows a March 2025 Four Corners investigation that revealed widespread safety breaches, educator misconduct and systemic regulatory failures. In its wake, the New South Wales Government announced a parliamentary inquiry, and the Australian Greens renewed calls for a National Royal Commission.
 
The 7.30 program opened with distressing footage from May 2023 of a baby girl being slapped repeatedly by an educator at a South Strathfield service, then operated by Affinity.
 
The abuse was filmed by a second educator and posted to social media with a laughing emoji. The offending educator was later convicted of common assault and banned from working in early childhood education and care for 12 months. The centre has since transferred to new ownership and is no longer operated by Affinity.
 
Affinity, which operates more than 250 centres nationwide under brands including Papilio, Milestones and Kids Academy, said it acted swiftly upon notification of the incident. One educator was terminated and the other resigned.

However, as the report made clear, this is not an isolated event.

Between 2021 and 2024, Affinity-operated centres in New South Wales recorded more than 1,700 regulatory breaches, averaging more than one per day. Despite this, the New South Wales regulator issued just nine infringement notices totalling less than $2,000 in penalties.

Systemic issues in focus

The ABC investigation, led by journalists Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett, drew on the largest tranche of internal regulatory documents ever released in New South Wales, obtained through parliamentary request. These documents, combined with video footage and whistleblower accounts, revealed consistent issues around understaffing, poor supervision and under-reporting of serious incidents.
 
Former Affinity employees described a culture driven by occupancy targets and cost-cutting, where trainees were used to reduce wages, experienced educators were overburdened, and serious incidents were either minimised or not reported.
 
“They are just not suitable to be in the childcare industry because they are just so greedy,” former educator Loretta Dodwell told the program. “They cut staff, they put the staff under so much pressure.”
 
Another former centre manager, Chey Carter, who worked across more than ten Affinity sites, said the provider prioritised business outcomes over safety. She described a toxic culture where staff were penalised for raising concerns.

The investigation also revealed a case involving a 17-month-old boy at an Affinity centre in Canberra who returned home lethargic and withdrawn. The following day, hospital scans confirmed he had sustained a spiral fracture, an injury often associated with forceful twisting. The parents said they were not informed of any incident at the centre.
 
At Affinity’s Spring Farm service, numerous compliance failures were noted, including fake staff credentials, lapses in medication administration and children left unsupervised. Within a year of Affinity assuming operation of the service, its quality rating dropped from Exceeding to Working Towards the National Quality Standard. The service’s approval was suspended for three months in May 2025.

Regulation, waivers and risk

The investigation cast a spotlight on staffing waivers, revealing that nearly 18 per cent of Affinity’s services currently operate with exemptions from standard staffing requirements. This is well above the sector average of around 10 per cent. Some waivers had remained in place for more than two years.
 
Under the National Quality Standard, services with waivers are not considered to be meeting quality benchmarks in the relevant area. Professor Gabrielle Meagher noted that parents often remain unaware of these shortcomings, especially given that reassessments typically occur only once every four years.
 
New South Wales Greens MP Abigail Boyd, who secured the release of the regulatory documents, said the regulator was failing to act decisively.
 
“The regulatory system here is about encouraging businesses and investment in a sector. It is not about keeping kids safe,” she said.
 
The broadcast has prompted renewed reflection across the sector about how to ensure safe, high-quality care in every setting.

Centre-specific cases highlighted
At Milestones Early Learning Raby, a pattern of breaches over multiple years was outlined. One educator was terminated after using a child to mop up vomit, while another was banned from the sector for 12 months after dragging a child up a cement ramp.

Trust and reform

For many families featured in the broadcast, the damage is long-lasting. Several parents described trauma, financial stress and a profound loss of trust in the sector.
 
Affinity has maintained that the safety and wellbeing of children is its highest priority and said more than 90 per cent of its services meet or exceed the National Quality Standard. It attributed some compliance challenges to COVID-19 disruptions.
 
As calls grow for stronger oversight, many in the sector are now looking to regulators, providers and governments to restore trust and improve protections for children in care.
 
“The trust that has been broken is unforgivable,” said parent Mikaela Cummings.