Both offences fall under section 165 of the National Education and Care Services legislation, with both the provider and individuals facing heavy financial penalties if found guilty.<\/p>\n
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Ebony, aged 22 months, was blue and unresponsive when found by staff trapped between the loops of a 90cm-high pool-style gate to a chicken coop.<\/p>\n Northern Territory<\/a> Early Education Minister Jo Hersey said it was the first time NT childcare staff had been charged, \u201cwhich sends a clear message that child safety must come first\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMy thoughts are with the family who live with the loss of their daughter Ebony every single day,\u201d Hersey said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cChildcare centres need to be held accountable, and I will not hesitate to take action against providers who do not meet National Quality Standards.<\/p>\n \u201cCentres who are not meeting National Quality Standards need to fix their act fast.\u201d<\/p>\n Hersey said an overhaul of Quality Education and Care NT, the regulatory authority in the Territory, will be announced in the coming weeks, with plans to cut funding from centres not meeting national standards.<\/p>\n NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage determined Ebony had suffered irreversible brain damage<\/a> caused by accidental hanging when she tried to peer at chickens and slipped.<\/p>\n The gate, constructed in the style of many loop-topped pool fences but only about waist-high to most adults, was situated in a known playground \u201csupervision blind spot\u201d.<\/p>\n In all, the little girl was found to have been unaccounted for over a period of about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n Delivering her findings in October, Armitage said it was difficult to understand how a yard check was not part of the centre\u2019s active supervision strategy and calling it a \u201csystemic failure on the part of the centre and QECNT\u201c.<\/p>\n \u201cEbony was entrapped for four minutes or more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAccepting the expert evidence … concerning the speed at which a child would become unconscious due to compression of the neck and thereafter suffer irreversible brain injury, I am satisfied that when she was found her injury was catastrophic and unsurvivable.\u201d<\/p>\n Armitage recommended NT authorities push for standards in the national framework that address entrapment risks, and for the territory\u2019s government to undertake a public awareness campaign around the dangers of loop and rod-topped fencing.<\/p>\n Ebony\u2019s family have called for loop-style pool fencing to be banned and a \u201cthree-strike\u201d rule for centres that breach supervision obligations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Major pay change proposed for millions of Centrelink recipients<\/p>\n 2 min read<\/p>\n![\"Download](\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/static\/media\/right-red-arrow.92bca5db.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Ebony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0de6602cee7a2f1ee1f6610364a2bc3eb1f200c2.jpg\")
Ebony Thompson was just 22-months when she died. Credit: NT Coroner’s Office![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/5b38ce943326b9ea90b4cf9d27898b05c89fc2cf.jpg\")
The gate where Ebony was found unconscious. Credit: NT Coroner’s Office<\/p>\n