Education Minister Jason Clare vows to introduce stronger powers for childcare investigators, funding threat
Mr Brown, 26, was charged with 70 offences after he allegedly abused eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre in Melbourne.
It is alleged some children were as young as five months, and the charges have resulted in 1200 children being asked to undergo infectious disease testing.
Conceding that 'not enough has been done, and not fast enough' to keep children safe, Mr Clare said legislation would be introduced within the first sitting fortnight once parliament resumes on July 22.
Once passed, the new laws would allow fraud investigators to conduct random, unannounced visits at childcare centres without a warrant, and without the need to be accompanied by police.
Separate laws will also allow the federal government, which currently provides $16bn of annual funding to centres, to scrap payments to places which do not meet standards.
'One of the big weapons that the Commonwealth has, probably the biggest, is the funding that we provide to childcare centres, something like $16 billion a year,' he told Sky on Friday.
'Centers run based on that funding. If they don't get it, they can't operate. And what I'm saying is, if they're not meeting those standards that we expect, then we should have the power to pull that funding off them. So the Bill will do that.
'The bill will also make sure that centres that aren't meeting those minimum standards can't expand and open another centre.'
Mr Clare said there were about 150 staff in the investigate team, with the government also able to draw in investigators from state based regulators.
He noted that while the initiative will cost money, it would ultimately help the budget bottom line by reducing fraudulent claims.
'The investment of about an extra $200 million over the last few years has clawed back more than that in money we've saved from the fraud investigations,' he said.
Mr Clare said joint federal and state education ministers will consider how CCTV cameras could be used as a deterrent against unscrupulous behaviour but said they had to 'be in the right places if deterrence is going to work'.
'How you set them up is just as critical as whether you've got them there at all,' he said.
There could also be stronger laws in relation to real-time updates on working-with-children checks when Attorney-General Michelle Rowland convenes a meeting with state attorney generals in August.
The long called-for changes were an initial recommendation made in the 2015 Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Attorneys-General will consider how states and territories can better share information across borders and look at strategies to 'improve criminal record checks and the criminal record check system'.
However Mr Clare warned these solutions were not a 'silver bullet'.
'I'm not going to comment specifically on the case in Victoria, because it will be before the court, but in other examples, we've found people who have been convicted of assaulting children in child care centres where they had a criminal record check. Why? Because they didn't have a criminal record and so they got through the system,' he said.
'The truth is here there's no silver bullet. There's a whole bunch of things that we need to do. And this work will never end.
'There are always going to be more things that we need to do here, because there's always going to be people who are going to try and break through the net to try to do the dastardly things that we've seen other people do.'
Bravehearts chief executive Alison Geale welcomed the proposed changes but hoped the 'vigour and rigour extends beyond this news cycle because these cases are happening almost weekly'.
'I think that any measure that's taken in isolation isn't the one answer. There is systemic reform, societal reform that needs to happen,' she told Sky.
The proposed changes after Mr Brown, a 26-year-old former childcare worker, was hit with 70 offences including sexual assault, and the possession of child pornography.
Victorian authorities have since confirmed he worked at 20 childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025. About 2600 families have been contacted, with 1200 children being urged to undergo testing for infectious disease as a precaution.
He will appear at Melbourne Magistrate's Court on September 15.
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Would you shoot a wombat? In Taralga, the answer isn't as simple as you'd think
Dianna and Warwick Bisset's property is set up to care for wombats. There's a special pen where rescued common — or bare-nosed — wombats nibble on high-carb dinners. The fences have wombat doors built into them and artificial wombat burrows — tin shelters — pepper the rolling green hills. "I think they're beautiful animals … and we're so lucky to have them," 67-year-old wildlife carer Dianna says. WARNING: This story contains graphic details which may be disturbing for some readers. But here in the Southern Tablelands, south west of Sydney, not everyone agrees. In these parts it's not unheard of for wombats to turn up with bullet holes in their heads. It is an offence under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 to harm native animals without a licence. People found guilty of this crime face prison time and significant fines. But these killings are rarely condemned. In fact, for sticking up for the wombats, Dianna's become a target of ridicule and threats. "I've had a screwdriver through the side of my tyres," she says. It was a battle she didn't expect to be having when she and her husband retired just outside the sleepy town of Taralga, 13 years ago. A wombat, found by Dianna Bisset, was shot behind the ear. ( Supplied: Rocklily Wombats ) Only in rare cases can NSW landowners obtain a licence to harm a wombat. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) In her fight to save the wombats, Dianna didn't realise others in the region had been battling for years on the opposite side. "We didn't expect the reactions we've got," Dianna says. "We know they bulldoze them, we know they blow them up. "It's very sad, I sometimes wish I'd been in a town that wasn't so back in the 50's." 'Wombat cuddlers' v 'wombat shooters' The sign that welcomes drivers to Taralga proudly reads 'circa 1820'. Local farmer Stirling Dixon, who's mates with Dianna, says the sign is the key to understanding the conflict she has found herself in. "When [settlers] arrived here, if we didn't bring it, if it didn't make you money, it was considered no good," the 78-year-old says. "That colonial mentality still prevails." Stirling Dixon is friends with people on both sides of the wombat debate. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Stirling's been farming since he was a boy. He has a quick smile and an infectious laugh. But his face becomes serious when he talks about how wombats have divided this community. He describes the conflict as being between "wombat cuddlers", people like Dianna who are new to the area and have progressive views, and "wombat shooters", farmers who see wombats as a destructive pest. "You try and find neutral ground but underneath, we both know one's a bloody wombat cuddler and the other one's a wombat shooter." Stirling doesn't kill wombats, but they do cause damage on his property. As his kelpie, Bloss, climbs out of a wombat burrow next to his outhouse, he explains why they can be a problem. "They don't seem to be rare and they seem to love to dig under things that you care about, like your loading ramp, your gates, your house." "They can be annoying … just to fix this would cost me a fair bit of time and money." From his perspective, both sides of this beef have valid points, and he says neither side is likely to back down. For the farmers, it's financial. "It's their sacred entitlement to make a living, regardless of the consequences." For Dianna, it's moral. The wombats are living creatures. Stirling Dixon says his community is divided over the best way to live alongside wombats. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) "Dianna doesn't take a step back. She's full of courage and that gets her in trouble," he says. "[She] is a person who's completely imbued with kindness towards animals. "She just can't fathom that people behave the way towards animals." 'Just so different from the city' When Dianna and her husband Warwick first moved to the Southern Tablelands in 2012, they were met with open arms. Dianna joined an art group, a book club and had friends across the region. Dianna and Warwick Bisset at their property just outside Taralga. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) She was particularly struck by how harmonious the place was, when she handed out how-to-vote cards for the Greens one election day. "If you wanted to go to the loo you could leave the cards and [other parties' volunteers] said 'oh no, we'll give them out'. "It was just so different from the city." So Dianna and Warwick sunk their roots in and built a beautiful house deep in the bush. They were happy. "We call ourselves gently lost. Especially when we get a full mist here and we just go, 'aah, we're gently lost'." But once they started caring for wombats, things changed. It was just little things at first. They were made fun of on social media. "We've been called hippies, super greens … 'the wombat lady'." A wombat peeks through a crack in a doorway. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Two bare-nosed wombats, Keith and Patty Cake, in a pen on Dianna and Warwick's property. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) A wombat near Wombeyan Caves in the New South Wales' Central Tablelands. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) But the name-calling took a turn for the worse, when they challenged a proposal to upgrade Wombeyan Caves Road. These caves are the biggest tourist draw in the region. Tens of thousands of people visit them every year. But the road down to them, which threads through beautiful bushland near Dianna's house, is dangerous and of poor quality. In 2021, the Upper Lachlan Shire Council got funding to do a big upgrade. But, according to Dianna, the proposal was never put to public consultation. One day, as she drove into town, she was met with a scene of destruction. "This 20-tonne machine is just picking up big bits of tree, putting it in a pile, and just closing the claws. And just smashing it up," she said. "Just smashing it, smashing it, smashing it." As a wildlife carer, she knew what lived in that bushland: wombats, as well as endangered species of goannas, microbats and gliders. In her eyes, their habitat was being flattened. So, she called the council and got hold of the environmental report, and began to complain. After significant to-and-froing, and the accidental destruction of a marked wombat burrow, the council paused the project while they worked through various issues. Taralga is home to just over 400 people, according to the 2021 Census. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Wombeyan Caves is one of the area's most popular tourism destinations. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) The council committed to upgrade the road to Wombeyan Caves. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Work slowly resumed, and the upgraded road now stretches to six kilometres. In a statement, Upper Lachlan Shire said it complied with all relevant environmental legislation and processes, and that the major works have been completed. It said a qualified ecologist approved all clearing to minimise impact on fauna and flora and any wombat burrows identified were inactive. But many locals believe the new road falls short of what was originally promised. In town, Dianna and Warwick were blamed for slowing down the roadworks. The 'wombat lady' is costing the region jobs and tourism dollars, all for the sake of a few animals, was a refrain she heard. "I had some lovely people post on the local community Facebook to not serve me in town, and it was pretty disgusting," she said. She began to feel like a leper. "I was doing some face painting because someone couldn't do it at a Christmas event, and I had kids being dragged off my queue and put on the other queue because I was doing it." Around town, friendliness was replaced by obscure climate-change jokes at her expense. As for the farmers, it only made them dislike her more. Damage worth 'quarter of a million bucks' Chris Croker's family has been farming in the Southern Tablelands for close to 200 years. "When my father grew up here there were never any wombats. I remember seeing a wombat hole as a kid, which was over 50 years ago, and it was a novelty," he says. Chris has never given Dianna any grief and he says he doesn't shoot wombats. But he thinks farmers should be able to. He currently has several running amok on his property. One of them has dug a large burrow in the centre of his paddock. Farmer Chris Croker says he has several wombats running wild on his Southern Tablelands property. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Wombats push their way through fences, damaging the bottom of them. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Chris Croker's sheep farm. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Chris says it's a serious safety issue for cars and quad bikes. "If you come down there on a bike then bang," he says. "If you're coming out here at night, you might have a cow that's in trouble, and you're riding across there and if you were to hit it with any sort of pace you could roll it on top of yourself." Further down his property is another issue. "That was started by a wombat," Chris says pointing at a mesh fence. Chris, who's trying to keep his stock in and feral pests out, says the holes pose huge problems. Chris Croker stands above a creek bed on his property. He's concerned erosion caused by wombats will turn it into a gully. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) "The next thing that comes through there will be pigs or kangaroos … and your fence gets worse and worse." Down at the bottom of his property, near Blade of Grass Creek, dozens of wombat burrows dot the creek's bank. "What happens is the wombats dig a hole and then water gets in so they dig another hole," he explains. "When you get a flood, water goes in there and they come out [and dig more holes]. "If I came and did that with a tractor, I'd have the EPA after me [asking] 'what are you doing digging in a waterway?'" Chris believes without serious intervention this whole area will eventually become a gully. That means he'll have less usable farmland. "I've tried to find funding to help repair this, and there's been none available," he said. "I had one quote on it, which was about a quarter of a million bucks." That's money he doesn't have. Chris Croker is a farmer from New South Wales Southern Tablelands. He says he doesn't kill wombats, but thinks it is necessary in some cases. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) In rare cases in NSW, landowners can obtain a licence to harm a wombat, if they can show evidence that they are a threat to public safety, are damaging property or causing economic hardship. The applicant must also be able to demonstrate they've exhausted all other non-lethal options. Chris thinks it should be up to the farmer, not bureaucrats at government agencies. "They really need to allow the farmers to do what they have to do," he says. "I can already hear the greenies going 'oh, what do you mean, they belong there'. "They're a native animal, yeah …[but] keeping the population under control is something that needs doing. "To think that they're just a cute, cuddly animal is a fantasy." What to do with problematic wombats? Dianna believes there are more humane solutions to the wombat problem that don't involve rifles. "So this is a simple gate that's been made out of found materials on any farm," she said. Dianna Bisset constructed a wombat gate in the fence to allow their passage through without causing destruction. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Warwick and Dianna Bisset designed this mange treatment contraption. It tips Bravecto on their back when they enter the burrow. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Warwick Bisset opens the wooden gate on a wombat enclosure. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) She says the wooden flap is just heavy enough to deter the animals farmers don't want on their land. "Foxes don't go through them, dogs don't go through them, pigs don't go through them," she said. "For the farmer, baby lambs will not go through them, so it's gonna keep their lambs safe." Chris Croker was less enthusiastic. "Have you ever tried to talk to a wombat and say, 'Can you go through that door, please'?" "I'm not saying all ideas are stupid, but … the practicality of it … just doesn't work for a business that we are trying to run here." In a few months, Dianna will release wombats Keith and Patty Cake, who were found on the road beside their squashed mothers. Keith had no fur and weighed just 500 grams. Patty Cake was found trying to get in its mother's decomposing pouch. Keith weighed just 500 grams when he was found. In spring, he will slowly be released into the wild. ( Supplied: Rocklily Wombats ) Rules prevent wombats being released into national parks, but Diana says she tries to free the animals as far from farms as possible. For many, releasing these wombats might sound like a success story. But Chris says there should be more regulation on where they end up. "There's no rules on where they let them go," he says. "They should be put back in areas they come from, not in some other foreign area and just spreading the problem for everyone else." 'We're here to stay' Dianna and Warwick like to spend the last part of their days watching the sun go down from their balcony. "The last light on the hill here is just amazing," she says. "It's just got a lovely orangey golden glow." Dianna Bisset is happy overlooking her beloved hilly landscape. ( ABC News: Jack Fisher ) Despite the tranquil scene, she's troubled. "We're running out of steam, so everyone can be happy about that," she says. But she's still got a bit of fight left. If she doesn't stick up for wombats, who will? "We're doing our thing out here and if the town is rejecting us to a degree, well, we'll just keep doing what we're doing here. "We're here to stay."
ABC News
2 hours ago
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Parents and co-workers struggle to come to terms with alleged child sex offences as more information comes to light
For more than a year, Jessica* worked in childcare alongside Joshua Dale Brown and trusted him to look after her own children. They would take it in turns changing nappies, co-ordinate mealtimes and make small talk about their family and friends. She remembers sitting with him and singing Christmas carols with the kids. Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex offences which may distress some audience members. Yet she has now spent days consumed with guilt and tears, since discovering the Melbourne childcare worker has been charged with more than 70 child sex offences that allegedly occurred at that same centre — Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook. "The times when I was working in the room with him, I've been playing the scenario back in my head, like did I miss stuff?" she says. She is among the distressed parents who say they are desperate to know if their children have been put at risk. They told the ABC this week that they have been left feeling confused by communications from authorities and abandoned by centre operators. Parents are demanding to know — how is it possible for vulnerable infants and toddlers to be abused in a business whose key promise is to keep them safe? When parents drop their kids off at daycare they trust workers with their children's safety, development and wellbeing. If the allegations are proven, not only has that trust been betrayed, it's been abused in the most appalling way. The matter also raises questions about the entire childcare business model in Australia and how it is regulated. Now the most important question — what needs to be done to keep kids safe at childcare? Police say the charges related to eight alleged victims who were at the Point Cook childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023. They were between five months and two years of age. Mr Brown began working in childcare in 2017 after leaving the Emmanual College Catholic school in Point Cook. His last shift, at a northern suburbs childcare centre, came just days before police took him into custody in May. The arrest didn't stem from a complaint from a parent or a tip-off from a childcare centre, police say. Instead, it originated from an investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a teenage boy in Hoppers Crossing weeks earlier. Detectives examining the devices of 36-year-old man Michael Simon Wilson — who has been charged with the assault, along with offences relating to child abuse material and bestiality — allegedly discovered material linking him to Mr Brown. Mr Wilson does not work in childcare. But police allege the men are known to each other, and both are due to appear in court again in September. For those who knew them, it was as if the men suddenly moved on with their lives. In May, Mr Brown and his housemate told their landlord they didn't wish to renew the lease on the modest house in Point Cook they'd rented for nearly two years. "What surprised me is they were going to stay there," the landlord tells the ABC. "They were always asking if we were going to put up the rent, and we hadn't." The landlord says the pair moved out and Mr Brown's mother committed to pay the rent for the three months until the lease ended. At around the same time, Mr Wilson suddenly resigned from the amateur radio club, where he had been president for just six months. "He just said he wasn't coming any more and resigned his position," a club member tells the ABC. Victorian authorities initially released dates and names of the 20 childcare centres where Mr Brown worked, which led to the call for 1,200 children to be tested. But there are fears this number could be the tip of the iceberg, as more employment dates come to light. On Thursday the ABC revealed Mr Brown worked at some Affinity centres for a longer period than was initially disclosed, prompting fears that many more families may be at risk. Police say they have received 'further material' about Mr Brown's employment history. 'We understand that many in the community are feeling concerned and anxious, however it is incredibly important that this information is confirmed, then thoroughly reviewed with other relevant agencies prior to any public release,' a police spokesperson said in a statement released on Friday. Several affected families also say communication from the Victorian Department of Health on who should get tested, and for what, has been confusing and added to their distress. Parents at the same childcare centres have been given different advice on what STIs their children should be tested for, without any explanation as to how this decision was reached, they say. Now living in a regional town interstate, Jessica had returned home from a school drop-off when she got the email that would rock her family. The email was sent because two of her children attended the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook at the time Mr Brown worked there. Nurses said they should be tested for sexually transmitted infections. Thinking back to her time working with him at the centre, Jessica says Mr Brown came across as a "kind, bubbly person". "There were no red flags," she says. "The staff did not ignore [the alleged abuse]; we are as shocked as everyone. "I would never let that happen to a child, like I've been sitting here crying." Her children are among the 1,200 currently recommended to get tested for infections including syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea. On Thursday, Jessica took her children out of school and drove 30 minutes each way to get them tested. "It makes my blood boil. I shouldn't be taking my kids for STI testing," she says. "Even if the tests come back clear we are never going to have that peace of mind, we are never going to know if anything happened." The crisis rocking Victorian families has also spread to the world of big business. This is because in Australia, childcare is dominated by for-profit providers who juggle making money for their investors with providing care and education to children. The centres where Mr Brown worked were all operated for profit. Eight of them were run by Affinity Education, which is owned by private equity fund Quadrant. Another four are owned by the biggest operator in Australia, ASX-listed G8 Education, which has more than 400 centres across the country. Almost 20 per cent has been wiped from G8's share price since police revealed the charges on Tuesday. Wilson Asset Management, run by high-profile fund manager Geoff Wilson, was the company's fourth-biggest shareholder a week ago. But since Tuesday it has dumped as much of its 6.33 per cent stake as it could. "Clearly we've taken a view, a moral stance, on the issues that have transpired," its deputy portfolio manager Shaun Weick tells the ABC. G8's second-biggest shareholder, giant super fund Australian Retirement Trust (ART), which owns almost 10 per cent of the company, is also concerned. 'The conduct alleged to have occurred at Melbourne childcare centres is deeply disturbing and abhorrent,' an ART spokesperson says. 'We are seeking an explanation from G8 Education around their staff screening processes and ongoing child safety measures, what steps they will now take to improve these processes, and related governance issues." Speaking generally, Gabrielle Meagher, a professor emerita at Macquarie University researching the childcare industry, says it is "not a coincidence" that alleged abuses happen in for-profit centres. "If you don't have enough staff, if they are not well-trained, if there is high turnover, [and] if centre directors have KPIs that focus their attention on revenue and occupancy, it is hard to foster a safe, child-focused, collaborative culture in centres," Dr Meagher says. "And we know that, compared to not-for-profits, on average large private operators do worse on all staffing related measures — they pay less, they offer less secure hours, they have higher turnover and hire less well-trained staff." She says a conflict of interest between making a profit and looking after children is built into the entire system. "Ministers have been coming out with some tough talk about tightening up regulation," she said. "There is certainly some room for that, but it's by no means the whole solution. "Governments are conflicted because they want to be seen to be growing the system to meet demand and the easiest way to do that is to leave it to private developers. Simply tightening regulation doesn't resolve these conflicts." On Wednesday, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced an urgent review into child safety in early childhood education to be delivered on August 15. Led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and senior public servant Pamela White, the review will look at installing CCTV cameras in centres and other measures. 'We will adopt every recommendation of the review and implement them as quickly as possible,' Ms Allan says. Her government will ban the use of personal devices in childcare centres by the end of September. The federal government is also promising swift action, vowing to fast track legislation to cut funding to childcare centres that fail to meet safety standards. For Jessica, her initial shock has transformed into extreme anger and grief. "We're going through all the symptoms of when you lose a family member," she says. "The system does need to change, but [authorities] need to sit down and think properly — we need something that works, not just rushed bandaid solutions." *Name has been changed to protect her children's identities.
