Australian health authorities call for infectious disease tests of children after man charged with sex offences
SYDNEY - Australian health authorities are urging around 1,200 children in the state of Victoria to be tested for infectious diseases after police charged a childcare worker with dozens of sexual abuse offences.
Police said on Tuesday that Joshua Brown, a 26-year-old Melbourne man, had been arrested and charged in May with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims.
The alleged victims were aged between five months and two years of age and attended Creative Garden Early Learning Centre between April 2022 and January 2023.
Police said they had launched a significant investigation since Brown's arrest.
Sex crime squad detectives concluded Brown had worked at 20 Melbourne childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025, and were also investigating allegations of offending at a second childcare centre in Melbourne's north.
Victoria's chief health officer, Christian McGrath, said 2,600 families had been contacted by authorities, with 1,200 children recommended to undergo testing for infectious diseases.
'This is another distressing element to the situation, and we're taking this approach as a precaution,' McGrath told a news conference.
'We do believe it's a low risk, but we want to offer this to provide assurance to the parents about the health and wellbeing of their children.'
Police said the investigation was triggered by the discovery of child abuse material, not by a complaint made by a victim.
Acting Police Commander Janet Stevenson said Brown was not previously known to police and held a valid permit to work with children, which has since been cancelled.
Brown, who remains in police custody, will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on September 15.
Stevenson said a suppression order on Brown's identity was lifted in order to notify parents with children in childcare.
"We felt that it was really important. This is unique. It's very important to ensure that every parent out there that has a child in childcare, knows who he is and where he worked," she said.
"It was an unusual decision but it is before the courts and so it is actually public knowledge." REUTERS
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