Today’s Allison Langdon has confronted the CEO of a day care centre accused of leaving a toddler to die on one of its buses in 34C heat.
Last month, a three-year-old boy died after being left on a minibus parked about 1.7km from Goodstart Early Learning childcare centre in the southern Cairns suburb of Edmonton. Temperatures on the day reached 34C.
The childcare firm’s chief executive officer Julia Davison appeared on Today Tuesday morning after the company announced it would resume bus services to transport children to and from its centres.
Davison said the company had apologised and remained in contact with the child’s family.
When asked how parents can be reassured of their children’s safety under her care, she said full details of the Cairns incident were still being investigated.
“What we do know is we have had a handful of bus incidents over the years here at Goodstart,” she said.
“Every time we’ve had an incident, we’ve taken stock and we’ve reviewed and strengthened our policies and procedures.”
Langdon responded, “We appreciate your turning out and talking to us today, but whatever you’re doing isn’t enough. A little boy is dead.”
Co-host Karl Stefanovic added, “I don’t know how as a parent I would ever allow my child to go on your bus.”
The childcare centre’s manager Michael Glen Lewis and childcare worker Dionne Grills were last week charged with manslaughter over the boy’s death.
The Cairns Magistrates Court heard that Lewis and Grills allegedly picked up the boy from his home but failed to remove him from the bus when they arrived at the centre.
Prior to the February incident, the childcare franchise also saw a 14-month-old girl being left on one of its buses on the Gold Coast in 2018. The girl survived “despite enduring sweltering conditions for an hour”, Shine Lawyers senior associate Susan Gandini said.
