15/07/2026
FINAL UPDATE ON OPERATION MOONBI
Dear Mimosa Kids Community,
Thank you for your patience and understanding over the past 48 hours. We understand this has been an incredibly distressing and uncertain time for many of our families, as it has been for our team.
Yesterday, we contacted the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that employed Hamish Tait between October 2020 and May 2021. They confirmed they have been working directly with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), including providing a list of education and care services that Hamish Tait visited in his capacity as a Trainer and Assessor. Later in the day, we received written confirmation from the RTO that they have been subject to a suppression order and have been cooperating fully with the AFP throughout the investigation.
Late last night, we were finally able to speak directly with a Detective involved in Operation Moonbi.
The Detective confirmed that Mimosa Kids Preschool and Early Learning Centre appears on the AFP's list solely because Hamish Tait visited our service in his capacity as a Trainer and Assessor employed by the RTO, not as an educator ( Hamish Tait did not attend Mimosa Out of School Hours Care).
The Detective also confirmed that our findings were correct, including that the visits occurred on 3 March 2021, 14 April 2021 and 12 May 2021.
Importantly, the Detective advised that police have no concerns or suspicions that these visits involved anything beyond general interactions associated with assessing trainee educators in the workplace.
This is why Mimosa Kids is not part of the ongoing investigation.
We hope this information provides reassurance to our families. Based on the advice we have received from the Detective involved in Operation Moonbi, together with our own review of our records and established supervision practices, there is no information to suggest that these visits involved anything beyond the purpose for which they were conducted or that children at our service were impacted.
We are aware that there has been considerable discussion within the community and on local social media. We therefore wanted to provide families with a clear timeline of the information we have received and the actions we have taken.
- Late evening, 13 July 2026: We became aware that Mimosa Kids had been included on the AFP's published list of education and care services, at the same time as the wider community.
- Later that evening: We received a generic email from the AFP confirming that our service was included on the list but was not part of the current investigation.
- Immediately afterwards: We commenced a comprehensive review of our employment records, which confirmed that Hamish Tait had never been employed by Mimosa Kids. This information was shared with our current families that evening.
- We then expanded our review to historical visitor records and identified that Hamish Tait had attended our service on three occasions in his role as a Trainer and Assessor with the RTO we engaged at the time.
- Morning, 14 July 2026: We contacted the RTO, who confirmed that Hamish Tait had been employed by them during the relevant period. We also made numerous attempts to contact both the Local Command hotline and the NSW Early Learning Commission to verify our findings and seek further information. On each occasion, we were advised that we would receive a call from the Local Command.
- Later that day, we provided a further update to our current families regarding the three visits. We also contacted all families who attended Mimosa Kids during 2021 and shared the same information with our wider community via our page.
Late evening, 14 July 2026: We spoke directly with a Detective involved in Operation Moonbi, who confirmed that our service appears on the AFP's list solely because of these three visits to the Preschool. The Detective reiterated that police have no concerns or suspicions that these visits involved anything beyond general interactions associated with assessing trainee educators. We were also advised that the AFP will update the Operation Moonbi webpage to clearly distinguish between locations where Hamish Tait was employed and locations he visited in his capacity as a Trainer and Assessor.
From the moment we became aware that Mimosa Kids had been included on the AFP's published list, our priority has been to establish the facts as quickly and accurately as possible and to communicate openly with our families and the community. Unless we receive any further information from the AFP, we anticipate this will be our final update on this matter.
We would also like to sincerely thank the many Mimosa Kids families present and past who have taken the time to check in on our educators and continue to place their trust in our service. Your kind messages, encouragement and understanding have meant a great deal to our team during an incredibly difficult time.
Finally, we want to acknowledge how deeply saddened and disturbed we are by the allegations that have been reported. Our thoughts remain with the children and families directly affected, and with the many dedicated early childhood educators who work every day to provide safe, nurturing and supportive environments for children.
Thank you again for your continued patience, understanding and support.
Kind regards,
Chris Adney - Approved Provider
Zivana Spittles - Nominated Supervisor
