Child safety watchdog says flaws were overlooked by the state government despite repeated follow-ups

Government departments ignored warnings over Victoria's flawed Working With Children scheme for almost two years and only moved to fix the system in the wake of sexual assault allegations.

Victorian Government departments did not act on recommendations to fix the flaws in the state’s Working With Children scheme for almost two years, despite repeated follow-ups by the integrity watchdog.

Victorian Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath told a Victorian parliament inquiry that her office repeatedly followed up with the Victorian Attorney-General and the Department of Justice and Community Safety over proposed changes after it exposed serious shortfalls in Victoria’s Working with Children Check scheme.

Ms Baragwanath said the department was contacted in March 2023, almost a year after the report was handed down and again in October 2023.

For almost two years the government faced repeated calls to fix the flaws in the state’s Working With Children scheme. Picture: iStock

Both times they were told the changes were “under consideration”.

In July 2024 they wrote the then Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes but never received a response.

The report said that the powers of Victoria’s screening authority were among the most limited in Australia.

But the state only moved to fix the system after calling a snap Rapid Review in the wake of allegations that childcare worker Joshua Brown had sexually assaulted children across Victorian centres, which came to light earlier this year.

Earlier in the day, Pamela White, who was appointed to head the Allan government’s Rapid Child Safety Review appeared before the panel on Monday and said there needed to be a “disincentive” to stop players from entering the industry for the “absolute wrong reasons”.

Joshua Brown has been accused of sexually assaulting children at Victorian childcare centres.

She said profit‑driven childcare owners should be made to “think twice” about entering the sector, with centres turning over millions of dollars in profit in real estate sales but not putting safety first.

“(Some people and companies are) just trying to flip a property,” she said.

“It’s a real estate deal, so you buy a childcare centre, and then you sell it, because the land value has increased so much.

“We’re hoping that some of the things we recommend are a disincentive.

“If you make the conditions more onerous, I guess they will think twice if they actually want to enter this business, to run this business, not another business.”

Ms White said making child safety training mandatory for owners and board members was an option that would deter people, along with ramping up unannounced inspections to ensure standards are met.

Some childcare centres have been criticised for turning over millions of dollars in profit in real estate sales but not putting safety first. Picture: iStock

She also told the panel that businesses needed a legal obligation to put child safety first, especially when it came to big corporate owners and their boards.

“We are hoping that you make it in law, as opposed to ‘isn’t it obvious’ that, on the audit and risk committee, it says that, in law, for the child care comes first, it says the interests of the child are paramount, and, when they have their discussions and they’re thinking about budgets, like where they do cuts and where they decide what they do with fees and all those things like how much profit they take out, they go back to that, and they know it’s a legal obligation.

“It’s not, it’s not just a heartfelt thing,” she said.

Profit-driven centres need to be forced to put child safety first, the watchdog says.

The Rapid Child Safety Review conducted by Ms White was handed to the Allan Government in August.

Childcare has become a massive cash cow in the real estate sector.

It is currently in the middle of a boom with the industry Australia-wide worth $20 billion and employing over 200,000 people.

This has attracted ASX-listed companies as well as small business owners looking to make big money.

Sales of centres across Australia, totalled $998.5m in 2024, which was up almost 30 per cent on 2023.

A Brunswick centre recently sold for $7.9m, a Highett facility for $12.5m, and an Ashburton centre for nearly $11m.

Ms White also told the panel centres needed to get better at checking employee references when hiring, checking that qualifications are authentic and checking on staff provided through labour hire companies.

The department said for profit centres were the most likely to exceed standards but also failed to meet standards at twice the rate of not-for-profits.

But Secretary of the Department of Education Tony Bates told the panel the industry would not survive without the private sector.

Originally published as Child safety watchdog says flaws were overlooked by the state government despite repeated follow-ups