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A Victorian family daycare provider could be forced to close after the federal government used expanded regulatory powers to cut its funding.
Laugh & Learn Family Day Care Education & Training was found to have seriously breached safety guidelines at two of its family daycare residences in Craigieburn, including leaving bleach, paint and rat poison within reach of children.
The provider was issued a warning and threatened with a fine of up to $103,200 in April but failed to rectify the safety concerns.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the provider had been warned but failed to meet expected standards.
“If you don’t meet the standards, then you can have your funding cut,” Clare said. “That wasn’t an idle threat.”
Family daycare is approved childcare run from an educator’s own home. A provider may oversee a number of educators running services from their homes.
The state regulatory body issued the emergency action notice to Laugh & Learn after unannounced visits to nine of its family daycare residences in March.
Two homes had numerous safety hazards, including an unsecured large, heavy bookshelf, dog faeces in areas accessible to children and unsecured water features.
Laugh & Learn was ordered to prevent two educators from operating until their homes met standards. Another two educators were issued with warnings.
The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority, which took over in January after sweeping reforms targeting the childcare sector, warned Laugh & Live at the time that failure to comply could lead to prosecution.
Laugh & Learn had its funding cut when it failed to provide the state regulator with evidence the breaches had been rectified within 14 days.
It is the first provider to lose funding, which the federal government does by withholding its Child Care Subsidy eligibility, under tightened Commonwealth powers introduced in response to recent child sex abuse allegations in the sector.
The subsidy, which covers about 70 per cent of the average cost of running a centre, is crucial for the operation of all early childhood education and care providers.
Clare said the government has issued notices against 115 centres since the reforms were passed last year.
“Of those, 47 suddenly fixed the problems that they hadn’t fixed for years. Another seven centres voluntarily relinquished their licences without the need for further regulatory action,” he said.
“This is not the end. We will continue to use these powers to keep kids safe.”
The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority was established to take over from the Department of Education’s Quality Assessment and Regulation Division after the sector was plunged into crisis when former care worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with alleged child sex abuse in mid-2025.
A Victorian parliamentary committee investigating the childcare sector is under way and hearings will continue in July, with a final report expected on July 30.
Laugh & Learn Family Day Care Education & Training was contacted for comment but failed to respond before publication.
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