Bosses quit at scandal-plagued childcare giant
The embattled boss of Affinity Education is among two executives at the major childcare operator who resigned after child safety issues emerged.
Affinity said on Tuesday that Tim Hickey and operations manager Nishad Alani, who was questioned over his $625,000 pay packet in the NSW child care services inquiry in September, had left the organisation.
The board appointed Glen Hurley, senior consultant for compliance and quality, to replace Mr. Hickey.
Affinity, which supervises 23,000 children in 250 centers across the country, has been under intense scrutiny since July, when former Victorian employee Joshua Dale Brown was charged with more than 70 offenses, including sexual assault.
Although Brown was not alleged to have committed crimes at Affinity centers, the operator’s poor record-keeping practices were blamed for delays in releasing his full work history to parents.
The investigation into child care in NSW also uncovered shocking allegations that children were being sexually abused, restrained for hours and served poor quality meals in for-profit centres.
Its chairman – Greens MP Abigail Boyd – has harshly criticized private equity firms investing in providers such as Affinity.
“I don’t work for private equity, I work for Affinity,” Mr Hickey told the inquiry in September.
“My job is to maintain profitability in our centers so we can reinvest in educators and centers.”
Quadrant Private Equity, which owns furniture giants Amart Furniture and Freedom, acquired publicly traded Affinity for $650 million in 2021.
This follows the failed takeover of childcare giant G8 Education in 2015.
G8 Education and Affinity Education have committed to installing CCTV at hundreds of not-for-profit centers after former employee Brown was charged with alleged sexual abuse of eight children at a G8-run facility in Melbourne’s Point Cook.
It turns out she works at four more Affinity Education child care centers than the one first listed.
Affinity said its new CEO has deep experience and strong operational insight, with a quarter of a century of experience in the aged care industry, including as a senior regulator.
“Affinity remains deeply committed to providing safe, high-quality care to families across our entire network and to supporting our dedicated, professional team who raise and educate the children in their care with compassion and integrity,” the company said in a statement.
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