Vinh Tri Daniel Cao

Introduction

Vinh Tri Daniel Cao is an optometrist whose registration was cancelled by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal after it found that on 14 August 2024 he was convicted of three offences of possessing child abuse material, contrary to section 91H of the Crimes Act 1900. The Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted the complaint. In its decision of 10 March 2026 the Tribunal found the complaint proven, found that the circumstances of the offending render Cao unfit in the public interest to practise as an optometrist, and that he poses a substantial risk to the health of members of the public, cancelled his registration with a five-year non-review period and prohibited him from providing any health service for the same period.

Background Information

Cao worked as an optometrist in New South Wales. Optometry is a primary-contact health profession: practitioners examine patients one-on-one, routinely including children, in consulting rooms without third parties present. The national registration regime lets the Commission prosecute a complaint based on a criminal conviction, with the Tribunal then deciding what the conviction means for the practitioner’s fitness — and where the offending involves child abuse material, the Tribunal’s task includes assessing the risk the practitioner poses to the public who would sit in his chair. The complaint against Cao was prosecuted by the Health Care Complaints Commission before the Tribunal, NSW’s senior disciplinary forum for registered health practitioners.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Tribunal findings. The findings below are the formal adjudications of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a case prosecuted by the Health Care Complaints Commission. They were found proven in the Tribunal’s decision of 10 March 2026. The criminal proceeding itself was finalised in the courts; the sources do not report the sentence.

It was alleged that on 14 August 2024, Mr Cao was convicted of three offences of possessing child abuse material, contrary to section 91H of the Crimes Act 1900. In its decision of 10 March 2026 the Tribunal found the complaint proven, found that the circumstances of the offending render Mr Cao unfit in the public interest to practise as an optometrist, and was satisfied that he poses a substantial risk to the health of members of the public. The Tribunal cancelled his registration with a non-review period of five years and imposed an order prohibiting him from providing any health service for the same period — the combination that keeps him out of every health role, not only optometry, until at least March 2031.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The Health Care Complaints Commission published its media release announcing the cancellation on 7 April 2026, a month after the decision. The “unfit in the public interest” finding is one of the strongest characterisations in the Tribunal’s vocabulary — it does not grade the offending against professional standards but removes the practitioner from the pool of people the state will certify to touch patients — and pairing it with a five-year prohibition order across all health services signals the Tribunal’s assessment of durable risk rather than a transient lapse. The release names no appeal and no public statement from Cao, and reports no connection between the offending and his optometry practice; the fit-to-practise question was answered by the character the conviction evidenced.

Current Status

Cao’s optometry registration is cancelled, with the five-year non-review period running from the 10 March 2026 decision, and a prohibition order bars him from providing any health service for the same period. He cannot practise optometry — or lawfully provide any other health service in Australia — until at least March 2031, and a return would then require the Tribunal to be satisfied he is fit. The Tribunal’s decision is published through NSW Caselaw. The sources report no public statement from Cao and no appeal against the Tribunal’s decision; the criminal conviction of 14 August 2024 stands as the courts recorded it.

Impact on Their Career/Life

An optometry career ended on the conviction rather than any clinical finding — no patient of his practice was alleged to have been affected, and none needed to be: the register certifies character as much as competence, and a conviction for possessing child abuse material answers the character question for the Tribunal in a way no reference to his clinical record can displace. The five-year non-review period, among the longest the Tribunal imposed in its early-2026 round of cancellations, means any return would follow at least five years erased from the register and against a criminal record that persists. His case joins the Commission’s 2026 run of published cancellations for criminal convictions.

Sources

• NSW Health Care Complaints Commission, “Mr Vinh Tri Daniel Cao – Optometrist – Cancellation and prohibition order for criminal convictions,” 7 April 2026 — source