Sydney businessman John Tanios is vowing to fight the NSW Department of Education after his Wagga Wagga childcare centre, Angels Paradise, was permanently shut down in May for posing what regulators called “an unacceptable risk to children.”
According to 9Now, the service, which opened in 2016, was suspended last year after a child fell and broke his collarbone.
The department later upheld 23 findings against the centre, including allegations of “infants placed in high chairs as a form of behaviour management,” children “eating food scraps off the floor,” and staff hired without working with children checks.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Tanios admitted some breaches, including children eating from the floor and staff working without proper clearance, but insisted they were isolated incidents.
“It should never have happened, but it happened,” he said. “It happened one time. It may have happened two times, three times, I don’t know, but it’s not something that’s common practice.”
Tanios also told the Sydney Morning Herald the controversy was driven by regulators unfairly targeting him.
“The allegations made were wrong, things were taken out of context and it was purely a witch-hunt,” he said.
“All I can do is deny it. They’ve built a narrative purely for the ultimate destruction of my service. It is not true.”
Despite the shutdown, Tanios has re-registered his business under a new name and plans to challenge the decision in court later this year. He maintains that “the children were never at risk” and says he deserves another chance to operate.
The Department of Education has ruled Tanios ineligible to run any education or care service going forward.
Source: 9Now
