Investigation into soft toy

AUSTRALIA’S consumer watchdog is investigating a toy sold at Sea World theme park, blamed for placing a sixyear-old boy on life support who has been given no chance of surviving.

Deklan Babington-MacDonald is in ICU in Queensland Children’s Hospital.

A soft penguin toy on the end of a rod has been blamed for the Anzac Day tragedy.

The seemingly harmless toy had been seized by police, Deklan’s cousin Lea Williams said.

Ms Williams said the toy was purchased from Sea World theme park four days before the accident and called on police to investigate.

Sea World has withdrawn the toy from sale and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is working with Queensland authorities to examine safety issues surrounding the toy.

“The ACCC is always saddened to hear of a death or serious injury or illness of a child involving a consumer product,” an ACCC spokesperson said.

“The ACCC is talking with the Queensland authorities investigating the incident to gain further information relevant to progressing our assessment.”

The ACCC spokesperson said any supplier of a toy associated with injury, illness or death was obliged to notify them.

“If a supplier becomes aware of a serious injury, illness or death caused by a product they supply, the supplier must make a mandatory injury report through the Product Safety Australia website,” they said.

“If a supplier finds that a product they supply is unsafe, the ACCC expects the supplier to conduct a voluntary recall to advise consumers of the risk, address the safety issue or remove the product from the market.”

A sample of the toy was taken from Sea World on Thursday by officers from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) Queensland.

Sea World management were also interviewed, an OFT representative.

“The Office of Fair Trading is aware of an incident that resulted in a child being admitted to intensive care on life support,” they said.

“Officers from OFT’s product safety unit visited Sea World yesterday to obtain samples of the product for examination and interviewed Sea World management. The OFT will not be providing further comment at this time.”

Ms Williams, who helped organise a fundraiser, has been the unofficial spokeswoman of Deklan’s Gold Coast family.