‘Children will be abused’: Childcare warning the state ignored

Victoria’s former commissioner for children and young people warned the state government three years ago that “children will be abused” if it continued to starve a vital oversight scheme of funds.

Liana Buchanan pleaded for years with the state Labor government for the cash needed to properly run the Reportable Conduct Scheme that failed to act on red flags over accused childcare paedophile Joshua Dale Brown.

The state government was repeatedly warned that key regulators overseeing the protection of children were being starved of funding. Credit: Getty Images

Buchanan repeatedly warned both the Department of Families and its political bosses, privately and publicly, that risks to children were growing as her agency could afford to investigate fewer and fewer of the cases reported to it, and that abusers would be left free to offend as a result.

In a 2022 report, Buchanan warned there would be delays in notifications to police about potential criminal conduct, limitations in the commission’s capacity to intervene to ensure allegations of child abuse were thoroughly investigated, delayed referrals to other child safety regulators, and that children could continue to be abused by a person who would have otherwise been prevented from working with children.

After Buchanan’s resignation in March from the Commission for Children and Young People, the top post remains vacant while the state confronts its most serious childcare safety crisis and the acting commissioner, Meena Singh, holds down two full-time jobs.

Brown now stands accused of abusing eight preschoolers at a Point Cook childcare centre in 2022 and 2023, with more allegations being investigated in a case that has prompted authorities to call for more than 2000 children to be tested for sexually transmitted infections.

Charge sheets released by the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday revealed Brown is accused of abusing babies and toddlers on six key dates between April 2022 and January 2023.

The state opposition said on Tuesday that the government’s choice to ignore Buchanan’s warnings had resulted in the commissioner’s “worst fears” allegedly coming true, while the government defended its commitment to the commission and its work.

With Brown having worked in at least 20 daycares around Melbourne since 2017, the government launched a sweeping review of the sector as it scrambled to respond to the disturbing allegations.

But Buchanan warned in annual reports in 2023 and 2024 that each year her agency was being forced by a lack of cash to reduce the number of reports of child safety risks or offences that could be “fulsomely examined”. In a separate submission, Buchanan also said that delays risked later referrals and led to people known to pose a risk to children to continue working with children for “an extended period”.

The commissioner wrote in her 2023 annual report that she had been forced to make do with the same level of funding to operate the Reportable Conduct Scheme since it began in 2017, while the number of reports soared to nearly 1500, an 81 per cent increase since the first year of the scheme.

The following year, the commission’s workload ballooned again, by 30 per cent, with 1892 notifications received, nearly 570 of them substantiated.

While the former commissioner tried to warn the state Labor government of the danger posed to children, two substantiated reports against Brown alleging non-sexual physical aggression against children in his care at two centres, operated by for-profit chain G8 Education, came into the commission’s system in mid-2023 and early 2024.

But no move was made to review the alleged offender’s working with children check, with the commission using its discretion to not escalate the cases for further action, clearing the way for Brown to continue his work as an early childhood educator until his arrest in May.

Buchanan raised the alarm most explicitly in 2022, in a submission to a review of the Reportable Conduct Scheme, warning that child abuse would go undetected and unstopped if the scheme were not funded properly.

“Children will be abused, or continue to be abused, by a person who would have otherwise been prevented from working with children as a result of the scheme and the commission’s actions,” the submission read.

Liana Buchanan, former Victorian commissioner for children and young people.Credit: Justin McManus

The commission also warned of delays in alerting police or child protection authorities about children in need of “protection from harm, abuse or neglect”.

Delays at the cash-strapped commission risked later referrals to other child safety regulators, such as Working with Children Check Victoria, the submission cautioned.

“This increases the risk that people known to pose a risk to children will continue to be able to work with children for an extended period,” the submission read.

Neither the commission nor the government would disclose how much of the Commission for Children and Young People’s budget was dedicated to the operation of the scheme, but the commission reiterated on Tuesday that funding had been frozen between 2017 and 2024, while Singh publicly confirmed last week that the position had not changed.

Overall funding to the agency increased from $13.46 million in 2021 to $15.05 million in 2024, an 11.8 per cent increase, which fell well short of inflation over the same period.

Buchanan, who now works as assistant commissioner at the anti-corruption agency IBAC, did not respond on Tuesday to a request for comment.

Acting commissioner Singh, who also continues to work in her usual job as Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People while a replacement for Buchanan is found, declined to be interviewed for this article.

Roma Britnell, children’s spokesperson for the Victorian Liberals, said on Tuesday that the failure to fully fund the commission to operate the scheme represented a “new low” for the Allan Labor government.

“Ignoring warnings from the children’s watchdog and continuing to underfund a safety program designed to ensure allegations of child abuse are acted on quickly and effectively has tragically, allegedly, resulted in the commission’s worst fears,” Britnell said.

A government spokesperson said the search was on for a new commissioner.

“Recruitment is under way for a permanent principal commissioner of the Commission for Children and Young People,” the spokesperson said.

“We invest more than $14 million every year so the commission can carry out its vital work, which helps to strengthen the children and families’ system.

“This includes administration of the Reportable Conduct Scheme.”

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