Lawyers examine bus case

LAWYERS for the mother of a 16-month-old baby who was left locked in a hot bus at a Gold Coast childcare centre are independently investigating the incident.

Lisa Easton said her daughter Violet was “forgotten about” by Goodstart Early Learning Parkwood staff and left locked in the bus on a 30C day in January.

Police are investigating and a staff member was suspended but no one has been charged.

Ms Easton said she engaged legal representation due to the gravity of the matter.

“I decided to get a lawyer after I found out she was actually in the bus for an hour and five minutes, not 45 minutes like I was originally told,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I took it as far as I could so they know I’m taking the situation seriously and will be a bit more careful in future with how they follow the procedures.

“I’ve been talking to the lawyer about lodging legal action to make sure these things don’t get (looked over) so easily, so it’s not just a cover up.”

Lawyer for Ms Easton, Kim Allen, of Shine Lawyers, said Ms Easton’s case was not isolated, with a Productivity Commission report showing 265 young children were “locked in or out, taken away or unaccounted for’’ in childcare in Australia during 2016-17.

The report also found 2813 young children suffered “serious injury or trauma’’ while in care in the same period.

“It’s really confronting to see how many serious injuries there were and where that translated to so few prosecutions,” Ms Allen said.

She said Ms Easton had been forced to change her work hours as a result of the incident.