Bosses at Australia's largest for-profit childcare providers received pay rises and bonuses worth up to $500,000 last year, despite multiple safety breaches and the employment of a man subsequently charged with multiple child sexual offences. The generous salaries have sparked calls for boards to consider clawing back some of the money, given outrage over safety failures and recent apologies from chief executives.
The G8 Education chief executive, Pejman Okhovat, secured a short-term bonus worth $534,426 for meeting performance targets last year. His base salary was increased from $930,770 to $956,468. During a parliamentary inquiry, Greens MLC Abigail Boyd read a series of confirmed breaches at centres owned by G8 Education, including a child being slapped on the face in 2023 and others being exposed to mould in 2024. In April 2024, the New South Wales regulator confirmed staff at one centre could not find a child when parents arrived for pickup; the child was later found completely naked with another in an outdoor playground.
In July, the alleged sex offender Joshua Dale Bown, 26, was charged with more than 70 offences involving children, including at a Melbourne centre managed by G8 Education. G8 Education has repeatedly apologised for the pain this has caused. When asked by Boyd whether he reflected on his bonus being impacted by recent events, Okhovat said: 'I personally don't wake up every morning thinking about that – absolutely not. My focus and attention are on running G8 as a large organisation providing high-quality service, with safety being its number one priority.'
Tim Hickey, the chief executive of another for-profit provider, Affinity Education Group, told the inquiry he wasn't sure whether his bonus payments of up to about $300,000 had been docked as a result of safety breaches. The inquiry was told that breaches at Affinity childcare centres were 70% higher than the NSW average in 2024, up from 30% in 2021 when the company was bought by Quadrant Private Equity. One breach included a child being used as a 'human mop' to wipe up their own vomit on two occasions.
The Australian Shareholders' Association's chief executive, Rachel Waterhouse, said she had long-held concerns about executive bonuses at for-profit childcare centres, given ongoing concerns about child safety. 'Boards must ensure that any significant incentives are justified and meet public expectations. Where serious incidents occur, boards need to consider whether past performance-related incentives remain appropriate,' she said. The federal Greens spokesperson for early childhood education, Steph Hodgins-May, said families were 'right to be outraged at executives pocketing bonuses for short-term profits while children's safety is compromised.'
