Kanga Enterprises, a childcare centre trading as Cooinda Early Learning in Caboolture, has been fined $28,000 after leaving a two-year-old child on a bus in October 2022.
The Caboolture Magistrates Court heard the child had been collected from home and was subsequently left unattended in the bus at the centre. Staff only discovered the child was still on the bus after receiving a phone call from a parent wanting to pass on a message.
The Department of Education prosecuted the centre for:
- Failing to provide adequate supervision
- Failing to protect children from harm and hazard
- Failing to have written authorisation for children being transported
- Having an inadequate risk assessment
Magistrate Kurt Fowler ordered the centre to pay the fine plus $1,500 in costs to the department.
The case follows a 2020 incident where a three-year-old died after being left in a bus outside a childcare centre, which resulted in criminal and civil action as well as regulatory reforms.
Published 25-October-2024
