A childcare centre in Canberra will be temporarily shut down by the ACT regulator, after it received a spate of reports about child health and safety breaches. It's the latest sign of trouble for staff and families at Genius Childcare, which is under growing scrutiny from regulators across the country and is rapidly losing staff because of ongoing pay delays.
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00:00It's promoted as a bustling childcare company, but a Genius childcare centre in Gungahlin
00:08will soon fall quiet, slapped with a two-week suspension.
00:13The centre will be closed from this Thursday, 20 February, after 11 reports of child health
00:19and safety breaches in less than a year.
00:22Reports on top of eight at Genius's Gowery Centre, seven at Simonston, six at Conda and
00:28three at Bonython.
00:30The regulator, Seeker, says the suspension is in the best interest of children and will
00:35compel the company to comply with the national law.
00:39If Seeker is not satisfied that the provider will be compliant, further regulatory action
00:44may be taken.
00:46Genius told the ABC it's cooperating with Seeker to review and enhance its practices.
00:52We report concerns as they arise.
00:54This can range from minor incidents, such as a scratch, to more significant matters
00:58like reducing hours or closing the centre due to staffing arrangements.
01:03Affected families have been offered spots at Genius's Simonston Centre, 25km away.
01:10Details about the breaches are not made public, but educators are facing another long-running
01:15battle of their own to get paid on time.
01:19The Gungahlin Centre was closed for three days last week because educators refused to
01:24work without pay.
01:27We're worried about bills.
01:28How can you do your best and do your work if you can't have the basic things you're
01:32expecting from the company?
01:33It's really concerning to see that Seeker couldn't act until now and it seems it's an
01:37issue with the national law around how childcare is regulated.
01:41The regulations are really focused only on children's health and safety and wellbeing
01:45and so when you've got issues that fall outside that scope, like educators not being paid
01:49on time, that doesn't fall within Seeker's role to step in.
01:53It's not the first time Genius has been in hot water.
01:56A centre it runs in South Australia will reopen tomorrow after it was issued with an Emergency
02:03Action Notice last month over a spate of alleged issues, including cleanliness.
02:09Seeker said it can cancel an ACT childcare service if it doesn't become compliant after
02:14suspension.