Calls for childcare reform after alleged sex offender caught

Twenty childcare centres across Victoria are under investigation amid calls for systemic reform.

Melbourne alleged sex abuser Joshua Brown.

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Twenty childcare centres across Victoria are under investigation amid calls for systemic reform and questions about how Joshua Brown, charged with 70 offences against eight children, slipped through the state’s regulatory ­system.

Four of the 20 childcare centres Mr Brown worked at – including Creative Garden Early Learning Point Cook, where ­offending ­allegedly took place – are owned by childcare giant G8 Education.

The ASX-listed company, which owns more than 400 early learning centres in Australia and is responsible for caring for more than 40,000 children each week, said in a statement it had conducted all required employment and background checks, including working-with-children checks, in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.

Hetty Johnston, founder of Bravehearts and now head of Safeguarding People Australia, said the case was “totally avoidable” and exposed a systemic failure in child safety protections.

“There are so many ways to prevent this. But we don’t even have good quality, comprehensive, strong training in this area,” Ms Johnston said.

Her calls for reform were echoed by Bravehearts chief executive Alison Geale. “It is unacceptable that someone accused of such prolific and heinous crimes was able to move between multiple childcare centres undetected,” Ms Geale said. “We urgently call for a ­national review of child protection protocols in early learning settings, including more rigorous screening, monitoring, and reporting systems.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare and Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh said the case was “extremely serious” and that children’s safety had been top of the agenda when education ministers met last week.

They said the federal government had banned the use of personal phones in childcare centres, made mandatory the reporting of physical and sexual assaults within 24 hours and would take further action on child safety.

The associate director of the ­social equity research centre at RMIT, Kathryn Daley, said Victoria had multiple schemes run by different legislative bodies, including child safe standards, working-with-children checks and a reportable conduct scheme.

Ms Daley said a “big gap” in the state’s working-with-children check was that it only considered charges brought by police, and not other complaints or investigations against workers.

Other systemic flaws Ms Daley pointed to were the working-with-children check’s reliance on self-reporting, and that, unlike teachers, childcare workers weren’t required to be registered with a governing body that could receive complaints and have a worker’s registration paused and name flagged in the system.

Ms Daley said it was a “red flag” that Mr Brown had worked at so many childcare centres in a short period of time, given the industry was so short staffed.

“My suspicion is that these childcare centres that keep moving this guy on, all had reason to move him on,” Ms Daley said.

“The concerns obviously haven’t been enough that they’ve [the childcare centres] been able to report it to the police.

“Unless they have a substantive reason to suspect something, they actually can’t do anything with that information.”

Shine Lawyers chief operating officer Jodie Willey said there were strong prospects for impacted families to hold childcare providers to account through civil litigation, should they be found to have been negligent in their duty of care.

The union representing childcare workers said early educators across Australia would be shocked by the charges. Carolyn Smith, the United Workers Union’s early education director, said educators devoted their careers to ensuring children had the best start in life.

“When that trust is grievously broken, as is alleged in the case being reported today, it’s distressing for educators, the communities they serve and, of course, parents and children,” she said.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the government had launched an investigation into the providers that employed Mr Brown and that working-with-children checks would be strengthened from next month. She said her government was also working with other jurisdictions on national changes “to improve safety, to strengthen regulation and to increase penalties”.

Acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Meena Singh said it was important to reflect critically on systems that kept children safe.

“We welcome the Victorian government’s announcement to examine the systems we rely upon to prevent child abuse,” Ms Singh said. “Ensuring we have a working-with-children check scheme that is fit for purpose and protects children is crucial.”

G8 Education said the allegations were “extremely distressing” and that the safety and wellbeing of every child in its care was its highest priority.