00:00Another child care centre under scrutiny.
00:05A 44-year-old man was found to be working as a gardener at this Beanley Centre, despite
00:10having been convicted of two child abuse charges in New South Wales in 2007, the latest case
00:17prompting an investigation by the state's regulator.
00:20As first reported by Seven News, on Thursday Andrew William Vassell pleaded guilty to failing
00:26to report his employment to authorities and was fined $2,000.
00:31The court heard Vassell, who was working as a maintenance man and gardener, told police
00:36he had only worked on weekends and holidays when children were not present, but accepted
00:41witness accounts he'd played the role of Santa at a Christmas party.
00:45There is no allegation Vassell offended against children at the centre.
00:49The court heard he told police he didn't report the job because he was receiving cash-in-hand
00:54payments and didn't believe he needed a blue card as he worked on weekends and not when
01:00the children were present during the week.
01:02The centre's owner say they were not aware of the man's past criminal history and were
01:07horrified to learn of it, adding,
01:10Had I been aware of the fact he was not properly qualified to undertake the role and fully aware
01:15of his history, he would never have been engaged by the centre.
01:20In a statement, the Education Department said the regulatory authority is now aware of this
01:25matter and will launch an investigation, working closely with the Queensland Police Service.
01:30It's one of several cases in the spotlight.
01:32In an unrelated case, this week a 21-year-old child care worker was charged with the indecent
01:38treatment of a child at Milestones Early Learning at Tingalpa.
01:42The government says it's focused on the sector.
01:46Communities rightly expect to be kept safe in relation to whether they're child safety
01:51instances or any other matter.
01:53to be kept safe in relation to the police, so if you're testing local, the student
01:55will not be noted.
02:00If you see a couple of things, the department has been chosen to ignore a couple of things.
02:06And the organization has been chosen to be they have been violated.
02:11Find the local government as a college student may be protected.
