C&K Maleny faces serious allegations after child swallows button battery

Managing Partner at Travis Schultz & Partners, Travis Schultz.

A Sunshine Coast mother, proceeding under a court-approved pseudonym Jane Smith, has commenced Supreme Court proceedings against The Creche and Kindergarten Association Limited (C&K) after her then five-year-old daughter swallowed a button battery while attending C&K Maleny in 2021.

Filed in the Supreme Court of Queensland, the Statement of Claim alleges the battery, a known and deadly hazard, came into the child’s possession while she was in the care of the centre. It is further alleged that staff did not see the ingestion occur, were unaware of what the child had swallowed, and phoned her parents, leaving her father to drive her to hospital.

The child required emergency treatment, including surgery and transfer to Queensland Children’s Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma for several days and remained an inpatient for weeks. She sustained severe internal injuries and, after finally returning home, required a nasogastric feeding tube for two months, with her mother administering every feed as part of her ongoing recovery.

Her mother, who was working in the Emergency Department of the Sunshine Coast University Hospital at the time and unexpectedly received her own daughter as a patient in a critical condition, alleges she has since developed post-traumatic stress disorder, with nightmares, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks and ongoing anxiety.

C&K, which operates more than 320 kindergarten and childcare centres across Queensland,[1] is accused of failing in its duty of care, statutory obligations, contractual obligations and consumer guarantees by not adequately inspecting the premises, maintaining systems to identify and remove hazards, supervising children safely, or providing staff with sufficient training and support to identify high-risk items such as button batteries.

The risks associated with button batteries are widely known. They can burn through tissue within two hours, leaving children with catastrophic injuries[2] and regulators, including the ACCC, warn that approximately one child a month suffers serious harm from battery ingestion.[3]

Managing Partner at Travis Schultz & Partners, Travis Schultz, said the case reinforced the vital safety duties of early childhood providers.

“By pursuing this claim, my client wants to shine a very clear light on the legal duty early childhood providers have to keep children safe from obvious and preventable dangers,” Mr Schultz said.

“She is seeking justice for her daughter – but equally, she is calling for stronger, sector-wide standards so no other family has to experience the ordeal that hers had to. This is not about blaming individuals. It’s about ensuring the systems, safeguards and daily checks within childcare centres are robust enough to stop deadly hazards like button batteries from ever reaching a child.”

Button batteries are present in thousands of everyday household and consumer products, and Mr Schultz said the timing of the case was a stark reminder for families preparing for the holiday season.

“This case is a timely reminder, especially in the lead-up to Christmas, that our homes are filled with products containing button batteries – from toys and wearable gadgets to festive decorations and flameless candles,” Mr Schultz said. 

“These small, shiny batteries can be deadly within hours if swallowed, yet they are found in countless items that end up in children’s hands. Every parent and carer should take a moment to check their home, particularly new gifts and Christmas stocking fillers, and ask whether those products really need to be there. The risk they pose simply isn’t worth it.”

Mr Schultz said his client had taken the step of suing under a pseudonym because of the profound psychological toll the incident has had on her and her family.

“My client has brought this claim under a pseudonym to protect her family’s privacy, because the psychological toll of this event has been devastating,” Mr Schultz said.

“By order of the Supreme Court, she has been granted leave to proceed with the claim using a pseudonym, and all documents filed in the case must refer to her in that way.”

C&K filed its Notice of Intention to Defend and Defence on 28 November 2025.