The Australian MP who blew the whistle

The New South Wales politician who helped expose the extent of abuse - and the subsequent cover ups - within the early childhood sector, is warning New Zealand needs to learn from Australia when it comes to the impact of privatisation. Greens politician Abigail Boyd invoked a powerful parliamentary order to force the release of internal departmental documents to scrutinise the regulator's handling of breaches in the childcare sector. A fraction of the documents were released, and revealed multiple reports of inappropriate sexual touching, broken elbows, broken wrists, children being kicked, verbally abused, inappropriate restraint, and force-feeding. Abigail Boyd says large private companies dominate the Australian early childhood sector, and occupancy targets, wage targets, revenue and profit targets, and budget targets all come before child wellbeing. Abigail spoke at an early childhood conference in Wellington yesterday, and a public meeting last night.