Childcare educator Edwina Ling, 46, is accused of carrying out multiple assaults across several days last August and September against a one-year-old boy<\/a> at Injinoo Child Care Centre in Far North Queensland.<\/p>\n Ms Ling is charged with 71 offences, including one count of torture, 62 counts of common assault and eight counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.<\/p>\n Families were told on Thursday that the department had cancelled the centre’s provider approval, affecting four centres \u2014 including Injinoo and two out-of-school-hours services \u2014 which will close on August 7.<\/p>\n A notice posted on the door of Injinoo Child Care Centre in Far North Queensland. (Supplied)<\/p>\n A note posted on the centre’s door said: “We are appealing the decision.<\/p>\n “We understand the Department’s decision to close our services has a big impact on our community,” the sign reads.<\/p>\n The ABC understands Ms Ling was allegedly observed by the childcare centre grabbing the child by the neck and head, repeatedly smothering his face with a cot mattress and pillow, pulling his head back, hitting him on the head, putting her foot on his face and kicking him across the floor.<\/p>\n She was also allegedly seen at various times shaking him, throwing him onto a beanbag, lifting him by one arm, mock punching near his face, throwing a playpen at him, and forcefully pushing and throwing him down while he slept.<\/p>\n The child’s father, who asked not to be identified, said the ordeal had shattered his family and destroyed their trust in the childcare system.<\/p>\n “We had to move house, move jobs, pack up our lives,” the father said.<\/p>\n The alleged abuse occurred in the baby room.<\/p>\n The service is excluded from the National Quality Framework (NQF) on the basis it received direct funding from the Australian government.<\/p>\n This means it is not assessed or rated against national quality standards used to rate centres. It is regulated under Queensland’s Education and Care Services Act.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Queensland education department said in a statement: “The Regulatory Authority has undertaken action in relation to Injinoo Child Care Centre. This matter is currently open to review.”<\/p>\n Injinoo Child Care Centre in Far North Queensland. (Supplied)<\/p>\n It is the latest scandal to hit Australia’s childcare sector, where ABC Investigations has uncovered a disturbing pattern of physical and sexual abuse, poor supervision, declining educator standards, and a regulatory system failing to protect children<\/a>.<\/p>\n The arrest of Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, who is charged with more than 70 child abuse offences<\/a>, became a national flashpoint, fuelled public outrage, and added pressure on governments to urgently address the child care crisis.<\/p>\n In federal parliament last week, Education Minister Jason Clare introduced a suite of changes<\/a>, referencing the ABC’s work exposing systemic failings.<\/p>\n Boy ‘wakes up screaming’<\/p>\n For the boy’s father, the turning point came when his wife received a call from the centre saying there had been “an incident” and someone had been stood down.<\/p>\n “We’re all doing therapy \u2026 Our child now wakes up screaming at night \u2014 we don’t know if it’s nightmares,” he said.<\/p>\n The boy’s mother told the ABC the shocking allegations had turned her world upside down.<\/p>\n “It’s caused me great anxiety around trusting people with our son,” she said.<\/p>\n “In the earlier days, I suffered lack of sleep, weight loss and trauma, second-guessing our parenting and worrying about every time he was crying.”<\/p>\n Share your childcare story with us<\/p>\n Email Adele Ferguson<\/strong> on ferguson.adele@abc.net.au<\/a> or Chris Gillett <\/strong>on gillett.chris@abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n The ABC understands the educator was initially hired as a cook at the childcare centre and in July last year was promoted to an educator in the baby room.<\/p>\n Queensland Police Service (QPS) said the 46-year-old Mapoon woman had been charged with a number of offences including torture, assault and assault occasioning bodily harm, and that the alleged abuse had occurred between August 30 and September 5, 2024.<\/p>\n “As the matter is currently before the courts, we are unable to comment further,” a QPS spokesperson said.<\/p>\n NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd says the latest allegations are “gut-wrenching”. (Four Corners)<\/p>\n NSW Greens politician Abigail Boyd, who has helped expose systemic issues with the NSW childcare regulator, is calling for a royal commission into the sector.<\/p>\n “These reports are gut-wrenching,” she said.<\/p>\n Ms Boyd said earlier this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had dismissed calls for a royal commission<\/a> after the ABC’s Four Corners uncovered examples of abuse, mistreatment and neglect in the early childhood sector<\/a>, characterising these cases as isolated incidents and not necessarily representative of a systemic issue.<\/p>\n “Months of horrific reporting later, it’s incontrovertibly clear that the issues run far deeper,” Ms Boyd said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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