‘Needs to change’: Thousands support Speak Up for Kids campaign after childcare abuse exposed

Thousands of Aussies are jumping on board a new petition demanding an urgent safety overhaul to our early childcare industry.

Thousands of Aussies are jumping on board a new petition demanding an urgent safety overhaul to our early childcare industry, after news.com.au exposed yet another alarming case of widescale sexual abuse within a family day care service.

This morning news.com.au exclusively revealed the horrifying case of David Neil Tuck: a family day care owner who is suspected of sexually abusing up to 55 children in Batemans Bay alone.

Tuck had already been charged with 10 counts of child sexual abuse in NSW when Eurobodalla Shire Council licenced him to operate a family day care service run out of his remote property on Bluemoor road in Batemans Bay.

Tuck, who also operated two other childcare facilities in the region, was able to continue running his licensed service despite multiple additional children coming forward to authorities with complaints of sexual abuse at his centres.

Laura-Jane Singh (LJ) and Hailey* were just seven and five years old when they were first sexually abused by Tuck at his overnight child care centre. The women, who have tracked down around 30 other survivors of Tuck, are now using their experience as a platform to push for national reform to Australia’s Working With Children Check scheme.

More than 5000 people have already jumped on board to sign their petition, which launched just a few hours ago.

“What could be more important than protecting our children?” wrote one signee named Tarek. “Stop protecting child predators. We need to do everything possible to keep our kids safe. This isn’t just for people who have kids, we were all kids once. Give every child a voice, and sign now.”

“What are our politicians doing here? Working with Children Checks are totally useless and a joke,” wrote Valerie.

“This needs to be changed now. We know there’s a problem, there’s no excuse to leave it any longer,” added Sarah.

LJ & Hailey are using their experience as a platform to push for national reform to Australia’s Working With Children Check scheme. Picture: Nikki Short/news.com.au

According to the petition, more than one million Australian families currently have at least one child attending a registered childcare service.

And alarmingly, every day there is at least one report of sexual misconduct coming out of a child care facility in this country.

“The children who are impacted are far too young to speak. As adults, we must use our voices to demand their safety,” reads the petition.

The campaign is titled Speak Up for Kids and is calling for an overhaul to Australia’s widely derided Working With Children Check (WWWC) scheme. The campaign has the backing of experts, advocates, academics, and survivors.

One issue of concern is that each state and territory has an entirely different WWCC scheme with its own legislation, operating system, eligibility criteria, and administrative processes. According to the petition, this creates “inconsistency, confusion and loopholes which offenders can easily exploit”.

The fragmented approach also leads to poor information sharing between the various states and territories and offenders who move between jurisdictions can then easily evade detection.

Another concern is that once a WWCC is issued, it is valid for five years with no interim monitoring.

As a result, families can be lulled into a false sense of security, particularly since complaints that don’t result in criminal charges may not necessarily be enough to trigger the high threshold for action.

Currently more than 5.8 million people in Australia hold a valid WWCC and no training or exam is required to get one.

The petition calls for an overhaul of Australia's WWCC scheme.

“Children need to be protected from these mongrel predators, it’s abhorrent what they do to the kids let alone the psychological damage they cause,” wrote Colin who signed the petition.

“Why isn’t there a national database for convicted offenders? Each state doesn’t talk to each other and an offender can be convicted in Queensland and then move to NSW and their offence will not follow them. This is ludicrous,” added another signee, Kerry.

“Our youngest and most vulnerable voices in society need to be heard RIGHT NOW! To the lawmakers and lawbreakers, how can you sleep at night knowing that your actions and inaction have destroyed innocent lives? Enough is enough!” wrote one individual who signed off “L”.

The petition is calling for a suite of reforms including national harmonisation of legislation and standards across all jurisdictions; the establishment of a centralised WWCC database to facilitate cross-border information sharing; a one strike policy for breaches; increased monitoring of WWCC holders; and finally a $2 million government investment to develop mandatory training which would then become a compulsory component for all WWCC holders.

“Do this now. My next vote depends on it,” wrote Jason.

“I 100 per cent support the petition,” added Peter. “It chills me to the bone that this could happen in our society. Let’s get these monsters away from our children.”

“How on earth we are not already doing absolutely everything to protect our children,” added Alan.

LJ and Hailey have been incredibly moved with the response so far and hope more people continue to join the fight. The women, who are now both mothers, say they are speaking out on behalf of all children - including the little girls they once were.

“As children we were defenceless. We did not have the language and we were too young to understand - let alone speak out about - the sexual abuse we were experiencing in childcare,” wrote the women.

“Now we are raising our voices for all those children who can’t. We were not safe. But we hope that your children will be.

“Australia, please sign this urgent petition. All children deserve safety. The time for action is now.”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE TO PROTECT CHILDREN

Nina Funnell is a Walkley award winning journalist who specialises in reporting sexual violence. She is the creator of the Speak Up for Kids campaign.

*Surname withheld for privacy reasons.