‘Profoundly sorry': Horror as child slapped by worker
The nine-second video, which was taken at Affinity Education centre in Sydney's inner west in South Strathfield, shows the child crying in a bouncer as they are slapped in the face multiple times by the worker.
The footage was reportedly posted to Snapchat with a laughing emoji in May 2023.
The video was obtained by ABC's 7.30, who gained access to a stack of internal regulatory documents following a parliamentary order obtained by Greens MP Abigail Boyd.
Affinity Education, which is privately owned runs 250 childcare centres across the country, includes the brands Papilio, Milestones and Kids Academy.
The worker has since resigned from the centre and was convicted of common assault. She was given a community corrections order and banned from working in childcare for 12 months.
The colleague who filmed the video has also resigned.
Affinity Education CEO Tim Hickey said the centre acted quickly after being notified of the incident by police.
'The safety, wellbeing, and development of every child must always come first,' Affinity CEO Tim Hickey said in a statement after declining an interview by ABC's 7.30.
'I want to express again how profoundly sorry I am that something like this could occur to any child in our care.
'These incidents are not representative of the dedicated, professional team who care for children every day across thousands of centres.'
The ABC said that between 2021 and 2024, Affinity centres across NSW had received more than 1,700 regulatory breaches, clocking up more than one a day. Despite this, they have been fined less than $2000.
The ABC also obtained footage of a worker dragging a toddler by the arm at a centre in Elderslie, in south-west Sydney,
Former Affinity employee Loretta Dodwell, who worked at a Queensland centre, said the culture at the education company was 'toxic'.
'The cost cutting and the lack of staff really caused serious incidents in the centre,' she told 7.30.
'They were also putting on lots of trainees, like young trainees that were cheap to employ and that put a lot of pressure on the qualified staff.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Four Aussie residents, including two citizens, now facing Hong Kong arrest warrants, bounties
Four Australian residents are now facing overseas arrest warrants issued by Hong Kong's national security police, after a fresh announcement concerning support for a pro-democracy party in the state's parliament. Australian citizen Chongyi Feng and resident Wong Sau-Wo are accused of having launched a referendum or run as candidates in the unofficial "Hong Kong Parliament" group. They are among 19 activists who are are accused of organising or participating in the group that authorities in the Asian financial hub say aims at achieving self-determination and drafting a "Hong Kong constitution". Authorities say the group aims to subvert state power, under the law Beijing imposed in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019. There is a bounty of at least HK$200,000 ($38,807) for each of the activists. Yam, who is a legal scholar, and Hui, a former Hong Kong Democracy party MP, were among eight overseas-based activists who authorities accused of national security offences, including foreign collusion and incitement to secession. At the time, the police also offered rewards of HK$1 million ($194,000) for information leading to each possible arrest. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has reacted to the announcement, saying "Australia strongly objects to Hong Kong authorities issuing arrest warrants for pro-democracy advocates in Australia." "Freedom of expression and assembly are essential to our democracy," she wrote on social media platform X on Saturday "We have consistently expressed our strong objections to China and Hong Kong on the broad and extraterritorial application of Hong Kong's national security legislation, and we will continue to do so." SBS News has reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment. Hong Kong's national security law Feng has told SBS News that, while he feels safe being in Australia, the federal government must remain cautious in its interactions with China. "So we need to be fully aware of the nature of (China's) authoritarian regime when dealing with Xi Jinping or the People's Republic of China." He says many of his friends in Hong Kong have been jailed due to the state's national security law, which makes perceived political subversion a serious offence. Critics of the national security law say authorities are using it to stifle dissent. Chinese and Hong Kong officials have repeatedly said the law was vital to restore stability after the city was rocked for months by sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019. "I feel quite sad that the autonomy of Hong Kong, of basic human rights in Hong Kong, and democracy in Hong Kong have all been destroyed by the implementation of the national security law," Feng said. Police reiterated that national security offences were serious crimes with extraterritorial reach and urged the wanted individuals to return to Hong Kong and turn themselves in. "If offenders voluntarily give up continuing to violate the crime, turn themselves in, truthfully confess their crimes, or provide key information that helps solve other cases, they may be eligible for reduced punishment," they said in a statement. Police also warned that aiding, abetting, or funding others to participate in the "Hong Kong Parliament" could be a criminal offence. Additional reporting by Wing Kuang and the Reuters News Agency.
The Australian
3 hours ago
- The Australian
Immigration detainee, 45, accused of making hundreds of threatening calls to police
Police have bemoaned the 'frustrating waste of resources' after an immigration detainee in Western Australia was charged over allegedly threatening phone calls. The Moroccan national, 45, was arrested at the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre on Thursday and charged with two offences of using carriage service to menace, harass or offend and using a carriage service to make threat to kill. According to the Australian Federal Police, the man allegedly made 297 offensive phone calls to the AFP over 54 days in April through July. This would be an average of 5.5 calls per day over the two-month period. The 45-year-old will return to court in September. Picture: Australian Federal Police. AFP Detective Acting Inspector Karen Addiscott said the man's alleged calls could have disrupted or delayed genuine calls from being answered 'These types of calls not only impose a frustrating waste of resources for the agency targeted, they can be distressing and concerning for the people who answer them, even if they are not the direct target of the threats,' she said. The man appeared in the Perth Magistrates' Court on Friday where he was remanded in custody ahead of his next appearance on September 12. Read related topics: Immigration Liam Beatty Journalist Liam Beatty is a court reporter with NCA NewsWire. He has previously worked in newsrooms in Victoria and Western Australia. Liam Beatty
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Footy prodigy on brink of NRL deal becomes big-shot bikie before incredible transformation in jail
Owen Turnbull could have been an NRL star but he threw it all away for booze, cash and women. The former Canberra Raiders and Parramatta Eels junior makes no bones about it — he was 'a waste of talent'. 'I was on the cusp of the NRL and I threw it all away for the bikie life,' he said. 'There was a lot of pressure from my dad to play footy and I guess I just turned my back on it. I was young and naive, I got into that mindset of doing all the things like drinking and girls that I felt like I'd missed out on because of footy.' That pivotal decision sent Turnbull down a dark path into a world of drug dealing, violence, and eventually a jail cell. At the time he thought he'd found his people — bikie brothers who had his back. 'My first ever line of cocaine was with my president at the time. I was too scared to do it. I watched a doco back in the day and a guy had his first line and he died from it, so I was always too scared to do that.' But four years after he joined the Rebels he became 'really dependent'. 'I was a broke bum for a lot of years until I started hustling and making money with the pingas, all the cocaine, bottles of Valium. I was making a killing and then, yeah, we're doing like an ounce a week of cocaine.' Turnbull defected from the Rebels and became sergeant at arms of the Canberra chapter of the Nomads. He had his share of enemies. 'I was on social media back and forth and this guy was warning he was gonna come and shoot up my house and I was like 'whatever'. 'I was laying in bed with my girlfriend and I looked out the door and there were flames. I opened the door and this kid with balaclava was standing there with a gun I opened the door and said 'go on then c**t' ad he did it. 'It's funny to look back now, it was only pellets but it still stung and burned and he ran away and there I was putting out the first with a shoe in my undied.' What wasn't so comical was the second time a gunman came after him. 'It was a real wake up call. They came with pistols and shot up the place. It went through my parents' room and thankfully my mum was overseas at the time. 'For a couple of hours police did all the measurements of where the bullets went and one of the trajectory was that it would have hit my mum while she was sleeping. Yep, that was a big wakeup call.' Turnbull said his time in jail for drug trafficking made him realise he didn't belong there. He needed to find a way to turn things around. Watching inmates shooting up ice, others behaving like grubs, he thought 'this is not me, I grew up a nerd, playing videos and watching cartoons'. That's when he decided to keep his head down, get away from the bikies who never really had his back and just do his time. 'I was at the right place at the right time when I got out of prison,' he said. However someone must have seen the potential in him. 'One of the cops that arrested me asked if I wanted to do a gang exit thing with QLD police.' The exit program - the first of its kind - was called Project Kairos. It helped members of outlaw motorcycle gangs to leave their criminal lifestyle and reintegrate into society. 'I did that and the detective helped me so much. I then got invited to talk in Melbourne in front of American DEA agents and I've done other talks for police and NRL.' Today Turnbull is making an honest living - but the road to being a clean skin isn't always a smooth one. 'I've gone from a bikie to a nerd. I tried to get into certain jobs but I had trouble getting work places. So since August last year I have focused on my card business. Ive got thousands of Pokemon and sport cards and so I decided to really focus on turning that into a business. 'The first one I sold was a very rare Lebron James rookie card.' It seems police were not convinced Turnbull would stay on the straight and narrow. In April 2023 police raided his home, believing he was selling drugs again. 'I had a bedroom full of my cards, the business was registered so it all sorted out but they thought my text messages about rookie cards, Lebron James and things were some kind of code... it was mad.' Turnbull has a message for anyone thinking gang life is glamorous, but also for young footy players about to come into money on their first contracts. 'A lot of the boys have just got their first contracts, like I can tell them what to watch out for, like don't get used, be cautious of who you're hanging around with. 'Be careful of who you are taking photos with, uploading on social media, like just basically stuff that what I went through. 'Be careful who you trust because it's really easy to throw away your opportunity.'
