Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Brown, 26, charged with over 70 offences including rape, sexual assault
A Point Cook man who has worked at 20 childcare centres across Melbourne has been charged with offences including rape and producing child abuse material against children as young as five months.
Victoria
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More than 1200 families have been urged to test their children for infectious diseases after a childcare worker was charged over dozens of alleged sexual assaults against children as young as five months.
Point Cook man Joshua Brown, 26, has been charged with over 70 sexual offences, including rape, relating to his work at Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook.
The accused child rapist worked at the western suburbs centre between October 2021 and February 2024. He also worked at 19 other childcare centres across Melbourne.
His identity was finally revealed on Tuesday morning and he remains the subject of a major police investigation.
Pictures of Mr Brown were first published by the Herald Sun on Tuesday afternoon. The images show him working at one of the 20 centres.
A number of his 70-plus charges relate to the alleged sexual assault of young children and using a carriage service to offend. The charges include:
– sexual penetration of a child under 12;
– attempted sexual penetration of a child under 12;
– sexual assault of a child under 16;
– sexual activity in presence of a child under 16;
– produce child abuse material for use through a carriage service;
– use carriage service to transmit child abuse material;
– possess child abuse material for use through a carriage service;
– recklessly contaminate goods to cause alarm or anxiety;
– use carriage service to offend;
– use carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to self.
Those charges relate to eight alleged victims aged between five months old and two years old who were in the care of the Creative Gardens ELC between April 2022 and January 2023.
Detectives were last week faced with the grim task of notifying those eight alleged victims.
The accused prolific sexual predator had worked at 20 different childcare centres across the state since 2017.
The major investigation into Mr Brown’s alleged offending began in May after police had raided his Point Cook home.
Detectives would not detail how or why they began investigating the childcare worker but revealed it was a “proactive” approach.
Victoria Police Acting Commander Janet Stevenson said Mr Brown was not known to police prior to the investigation and that he held a valid Working With Children Check.
“We immediately acted and executed a search warrant at the Point Cook home of 26-year-old Joshua Brown,” she said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“As a result, Brown was charged with over 70 offences, which were committed against eight identified child victims.
“It was very complex … it wasn’t through someone’s complaint; we didn’t have a victim for quite some time.”
Police also confirmed they were now looking into evidence at a second childcare centre in Essendon as part of a wider investigation.
About 1200 families have since been urged to test their children for potentially infectious diseases.
Chief health officer Christian McGrath said about 2600 families of children who attended the Creative Gardens ELC had been contacted as a precaution.
“As a precaution, we are recommending that some children undergo testing for infectious diseases due to a potential exposure risk,” he said.
“We do understand that this is another distressing element to this situation and we’re taking this approach as a precaution.
“At this stage, we are recommending that around 1200 children undergo testing for infectious diseases.”
Mr McGrath said health testing of the hundreds of children would be turned around within days or weeks.
“We’re doing our absolute best to facilitate that testing,” he added.
A suppression order was lifted at 8am Monday at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court so Mr Brown’s identity could be made public.
That interim order was put in place after the police informant made an application in May in order to protect the alleged victims and their families while police continued their investigation.
On June 30 a joint application was made by Victoria Police and the OPP to revoke the May suppression order.
Acting Commander Stevenson cited safety and awareness.
“We felt that it was really important. This is unique,” she added.
“This is very important to ensure that every parent out there that has a child in childcare knows who he is and where he worked.
“It was an unusual decision but it is before the courts and is (now) public knowledge.”
Premier Jacinta Allan said she was appalled by the allegations and that families across the state would be “angry and frightened”.
“I’m sickened by these allegations of abuse,” she said.
“I do not want to say anything that will compromise justice.”
Affinity Education Group, which operates nine of the centres Mr Brown was employed at between August 2024 and May 2025, has become one of the first centres to speak out about the alleged incidents.
These centres included Aussie Kindies Early Learning in Sunbury and Keilor, Milestones Early Learning in Werribee, Bundoora and Hoppers Crossing, Papilio Early Learning in Hoppers Crossing and Essendon and Kids Academy in Melton and Kensington.
A spokeswoman said Affinity Education Group had a zero-tolerance approach to any form of abuse or misconduct involving children.
“The safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is – and always will be – our highest priority,” she said.
“We are deeply distressed by the nature of the charges laid against the individual named in media reports today.
“We are co-operating fully with authorities and stand ready to assist their investigation in any way required.”
The full list of childcare centres where Mr Brown worked can be found here.
Four of the centres Mr Brown worked were run by childcare provider G8 Education.
This included Creative Gardens Point Cook, where dozens of the alleged offences occurred.
A spokeswoman for G8 Education said during Mr Brown’s employment, all required employment and background checks were current in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.
“At G8 Education, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is our highest priority. We are deeply committed to providing a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment for all children and families,” she said.
“We are aware that a former G8 Education team member has been charged with offences involving children. These allegations are serious in nature and are extremely distressing. We are focused on supporting all those impacted not just at our centres, but across the community.”
The spokeswoman confirmed Mr Brown was no longer employed by G8 Education and that it was co-operating fully with Victoria Police, the government and other authorities.
“We are committed to supporting the legal process in every way we can,” she said.
“G8 Education has no tolerance for any behaviour that compromises the safety or wellbeing of children. As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment further on the specifics of the case.”
Premier Allan said a “rapid” review into how Working With Children Checks were handled would likely lead to a raft of changes.
“We’ve already undertaken a rapid review that commenced in April and the changes are being introduced from next month,” she added.
“I want to make it absolutely clear … there is further strengthening and actions we can do on top of the actions that have already been taken; increasing penalties, strengthening the regulation.”
Mr Brown remains in custody and will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 15.
Acting Commander Stevenson said it was an appalling case of alleged abuse that has rocked families, workers and investigators.
“This is an incredibly distressing and confronting investigation for all involved and I know many members of the community will hear this news and feel enormously concerned,” she added.
“The most important thing for our investigators was that we needed to identify the victims involved.
“These are some of the most vulnerable members of our community and the conversations police have had to have with their families were no doubt life changing in the worst possible way.”
Australian Childcare Alliance president Paul Mondo said Mr Brown’s alleged behaviour would “horrify all Australians”.
“Parents will understandably be distraught and distressed and should utilise the supports set up by the Victorian Government for affected families,” he said.
“These alleged offences are devastating, first and foremost for the impacted children and families, for all the dedicated educators in our sector who are sickened by these atrocious events and across the broader community.
“As a sector, we are committed to improving child safety measures and will continue to work with governments across Australia to keep children safe.”
Shine Lawyers Chief Operating Officer Jodie Willey described the allegations as “truly sickening” and said there was a “clear need” for better supervision practices.
“The fact that this alleged offending was carried out over such a long span of time speaks to a significant failing,” she said.
“A lack of proper supervision of staff is one of the recurring themes we’ve seen in other cases we’ve run involving abuse in a childcare setting.
“There is a clear need for better supervision practices to be implemented for staff who are caring for children.”
Ms Willey said if the childcare providers in this instance were found to be negligent in their duty of care, there would be “strong prospects for the impacted families to hold them to account through the civil courts”.
The Parenthood Campaign Director Maddy Butler renewed calls for an urgent establishment of an independent National Early Childhood Commission, following news of the distressing incidents at multiple Melbourne childcare centres.
“This is a highly distressing situation not only for the parents and families impacted by the alleged abuse, but for every parent across the country who is worried about their children’s safety,” she said.
“This is why we continue to call for the urgent establishment of an independent National Early Childhood Commission – to ensure national oversight, consistent quality, and accountability across early childhood education and care services.”
The Parenthood has said in the past an independent Early Childhood Education and Care Commission would hold providers accountable, ensure childcare safety standards are enforced nationally and restore public faith in the early education and care system.
Ms Butler said every child deserved safe and high-quality care, while every educator had the right to the support and safeguards that allow them to do their work well.
“Our hearts are with the families impacted by this situation. This should never have happened,” she said.
In a joint statement, federal opposition education and early learning spokesman Jonno Duniam and assistant opposition education and early learning spokeswoman Zoe McKenzie called on the government to urgently review Australia’s child safety safeguards, including those under the National Quality Framework.
“The Coalition stands ready to work with the government to ensure our child protection systems are as strong, transparent, and accountable as they must be to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.”
Originally published as Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Brown, 26, charged with over 70 offences including rape, sexual assault
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