Australind’s Garfields Learnaversity fined $31,000 after leaving child unattended on a bus for 31 minutes

An Australind childcare centre owner has been fined after leaving a child unattended on a bus for more than half an hour. Learnaversity Pty Ltd was sentenced by the State Administrative Tribunal following a Department of Communities investigation into a reported incident at Garfields Learnaversity. The investigation found a five-year-old was left alone and unsupervised on a bus outside the centre for 31 minutes in October 2022. The child was found by another parent who had arrive to collect their child from the centre. Learnaversity was found to have committed multiple breaches of the Educational and Care Service National Law Act, including inadequately supervising a child, not taking reasonable precautions to protect a child from harm and hazards, failing to meet minimum staffing requirements, and failure to notify the department of the incident within the required time frame. It was ordered to pay $31,000, including costs, over the incident. Department regulation executive director Phil Payne said inadequate supervision continued to be a major concern within the education and care sector. “This incident occurred prior to the introduction of new transport regulations on 1 March 2023,” he said. “These changes aim to reduce the risk of children being accidentally left inside vehicles, and have been implemented to assist service providers in ensuring that all their staff are aware of and follow their policies and procedures when it comes to supervising children and ensuring they are adequately supervised during school collections and excursions.”