The head of a private equity-owned childcare provider received a significant increase to his already substantial salary, despite a series of horrifying safety breaches recorded by the regulator—including an incident where a child was used as a human mop to wipe their own vomit, an inquiry has revealed.
The executive was one of several CEOs from large for-profit childcare providers who faced a New South Wales (NSW) parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday amid growing community anger that childcare businesses are prioritizing profit over children’s safety.
### Disturbing Incidents at Childcare Centres
Among the abuses disclosed this year was the shocking case at Affinity’s Milestones centre in Raby, western Sydney, in 2023, where a child was reportedly used to clean up their own vomit. Other incidents include workers slapping a baby repeatedly and children being forced to drink liquid medicine from a paint cup.
Affinity Education is also at the center of the sector’s alleged sexual abuse scandal. Joshua Dale Brown stands accused of sexually abusing children at numerous Victorian centres, including 13 owned by the group. Additionally, in July, a 21-year-old worker at an Affinity centre in Brisbane was charged with indecent treatment of a child.
### CEO Responds, But Safety Concerns Remain
Affinity’s CEO Tim Hickey told the inquiry that the company has been investing heavily in safety and compliance across its 250 centres nationwide, with 102 of those located in NSW.
“I can say, without doubt, that recent events are more troubling than any I’ve seen in this time, and I’m absolutely committed to doing everything within my control to ensure this never happens again. I accept significant responsibility rests on me as CEO of one of Australia’s largest childhood operators to ensure that we learn and that we improve,” he said.
Hickey added that 90 percent of Affinity’s centres meet the national quality health and safety standards as judged by the regulator.
### Parliamentary Inquiry Paints a Different Picture
However, inquiry chair Abigail Boyd presented a starkly different view of children’s safety at the NSW centres overseen by Hickey. She revealed that since Affinity was acquired by Quadrant Private Equity in 2021, safety breaches recorded per centre have been 30 percent higher than the NSW average.
These safety breaches are not reflected in the centres’ publicly available ratings.
“Within three years of that Quadrant ownership, your breaches per centre were then 70 percent higher than the average in NSW. That’s a significant decline in quality and safety in the three years since Quadrant Private Equity bought Affinity,” Boyd said during the hearing.
### CEO Salary and Performance Indicators Under Scrutiny
Hickey, who earns a $625,000 base salary, confirmed that safety is one of his key performance indicators. While he indicated he had suffered some financial penalty over the safety breaches, he did not specify the details or confirm whether his bonus—which can be up to 50 percent of his salary—had been affected.
When asked if his salary and total compensation had increased over the past three years, Hickey said simply, “Yes, it would have gone up.”
### Other Industry Leaders Respond
G8 Education chief executive Pejman Okhovat told the inquiry he received a total package of $3.3 million last year, with less than half of that as base salary. Okhovat denied that offering cash bonuses to centre directors—partly based on low staff turnover—encourages underreporting of incidents due to fears of damaging a centre’s reputation.
“Occupancy is fundamentally a reflection of the local community trusting and believing that they can put the children in there. If you have a poor reputation, you do not get the occupancy,” he said.
### Legislative Changes on the Horizon
New legislation introduced to NSW parliament earlier this month will empower the state regulator to require childcare centres to publicly display information about any current investigations. It will also increase maximum penalties by 900 percent for businesses that operate more than 25 services.
### Calls for Greater Transparency and Reform
Sam Page, CEO of parents and children advocacy group Early Childhood Australia, emphasized the need for greater transparency around incidents in childcare centres.
“It would come as a surprise if a family saw they were meeting the standards and then had to look elsewhere to see if there was a breach of safety or something else. That does not meet public expectations,” she said.
Regarding private equity profits from buying childcare providers, Page advocated reducing the proportion of for-profit centres as the government expands universal childcare.
“I do think we should be looking at requiring providers to have early childhood expertise on their board, and to be expecting a more modest return on investment—a lower level of profit. And in return, lower risk for their investment,” she said.
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