'extracts from my State govt's Kids in Cars Fact Sheet.' It also lists cases of distressed children rescued from cars & excuses carers gave for leaving the child in the car - only gone a minute! (children drown, scald & fall in "a minute" & cars are stolen in "a minute") to can't afford childcare, so left child in car for 4 hour shift.

• On a typical Australian summer day, the temperature inside a parked car can be as much as 30-40 degrees hotter than the outside temperature i.e. on a 30-degree day the temperature inside the car could be as high as 70 degrees.

The legislation

The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act was proclaimed in December 2000. However, chapters 1 and 14 were
proclaimed in April 2000, including section 231 which covers the section about children left in cars/unattended. The maximum penalty
is $22,000. Section 231 of the Act reads:

A person who leaves any child or young person in the person's care in a motor vehicle without proper supervision for such period or in such circumstances that:

(a) the child or young person becomes or is likely to become emotionally distressed, or

(b) the child's or young person's health becomes or is likely to become permanently or temporarily impaired, is guilty of an offence.

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We often get reports of children locked in cars - Mum who left child in car made a "very stupid mistake" this one has a pic of the child & some interesting comments from readers.

One of my friends is a nurse & saw a distressed child in a car last summer. After removing it, mother kept talking on her mobile/cell phone & ignored my friend's advice to take the child into the air conditioned shop she was standing beside to remove it's clothes & sponge it down.

Keep up the good work, Slag.

sandra