
Second man charged with child abuse offences in major investigation involving Melbourne childcare centre
Published 2 July 2025, 8:05 am
The Victorian government has announced a snap childcare review, after a 26-year-old Melbourne man was charged with more than 70 sex offences against children. There are now reports that police have charged a second man with unrelated child abuse offences, as part of the major investigation.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Labor vows to introduce new childcare laws when parliament returns
Labor will introduce snap legislation letting the government cut federal funds to childcare centres that 'aren't up to scratch', Education Minister Jason Clare has vowed. The pledge came after detectives arrested and charged a 26-year-old man in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse at a Melbourne childcare centre. He was a worker at the centre and had a working with children check (WWCC). Mr Clare said on Thursday that if the allegations were proven true, then 'the system has failed these families'. 'It has taken too long for governments to act,' he told Seven's Sunrise. 'This is sickening and it demands serious action. We've already taken action around mobile phones in childcare centres and mandatory reporting. 'But there's more that we have to do – there's a lot more we have to do.' Mr Clare said he would not hesitate to 'cut off' federal funds to childcare centres that failed to keep children safe. 'Parliament returns later this month – I'll introduce a piece of legislation in the (first) fortnight that will cut funding to childcare centres that aren't up to scratch when it comes to safety of the children,' he said. 'The big weapon that the federal government has to wield here is the funding that we provide to childcare centres. 'It equates to about 70 per cent of the funding that runs a centre and if they're not keeping our kids safe, then we need to cut off their funding.' He added there needed 'to be consequences'. Police in Victoria earlier this week arrested and charged Joshua Dale Brown with more than 70 offences, including child rape and possession of child abuse material. On Wednesday, police charged a second man, Michael Simon Wilson, 36, with offences relating to child abuse material.

News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Grim reality of Australia's child sex abuse is laid bare
When Queensland childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing 73 young girls in Brisbane, an interim report warned how the current system 'may result in a false sense of security'. The man dubbed perhaps Australia's worst pedophile had 'met all requirements to obtain and maintain a Blue Card' – the state's working with children check system – until his arrest on 1623 charges of child abuse. 'The Blue Card system is not designed to collect information on early indicators of harm or to identify patterns over time and across organisations, particularly where complaints about a person have been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated due to a lack of evidence,' the report said. The implementation of a reportable conduct scheme in Queensland will commence in 2026 and it is hoped will improve the collation and sharing of this type of information. This week, amid allegations another childcare worker, Joshua Dale Brown, has sexually abused children in Victoria, some of those observations are important to revisit. The childcare worker has been charged but is yet to face trial. The 26-year-old is accused of abusing eight young children between April 2022 and January 2023 and his work at 20 centres across Victoria has sparked the testing of more than 1200 children for sexually transmitted infections out of 'an abundance of caution'. Parents and grandparents around Australia are understandably distressed and in shock over the latest allegations that centre on the new childcare worker in Victoria. On Channel 9, TV host Sylvia Jeffries, a mother of young children, broke down in tears insisting that fixing the problem should be the federal government's highest priority. The tricky part, however, is working out what works and finding the reforms that will make a real difference. It's a big question: how do you stop the sexual abuse of children which has occurred in Australia and around the world for centuries, long before the advent of mobile phones? It is also a grim reality that pedophiles are always going to try to seek employment where they have access to children, whether that's at the local footy club or a kindergarten. Consider this. Two years ago, the first nationally representative research into the prevalence of child sexual offending behaviours and attitudes revealed one in five Australian men reported sexual feelings towards children and one in 10 of those surveyed admitted they had abused children. Of the men who reported sexual feelings, 29.6 per cent wanted help. That's around 4.5 per cent of Australian men. It's a potent reminder that any reform options for the childcare sector need to look more closely about prevention, not simply how to strengthen the existing system. But there are a multitude of issues to be tackled. According to the report by the Queensland Child Death Review Board, there were also fears that concerns about defamation and other legal risks may deter individuals from raising concerns within the childcare sector. As is the case for sexual crimes against women and children, Queensland police also noted 'the high evidentiary threshold' for prosecution. 'Officers must be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to prove a matter beyond reasonable doubt. This is especially difficult for young children who may not be able to talk or have a limited vocabulary,' the progress report said. There were also big concerns around how to track staff when the sector is so highly casualised, along with the 'robustness' of referee checks. 'Unclear information-sharing processes and a fear of privacy breaches may also create an environment where early indicators of potential harm are minimised,'' the report found. 'This impacts the system's capacity to detect child sexual abuse, including by identifying patterns over time and across services.' The reality, of course, is that the vast majority of childcare centres and childcare workers are hardworking and caring educators who, in most cases, have been historically underpaid. But big changes that have been long delayed are being rolled out. Victorian childcare workers are now set to be banned from having their personal devices on them in centres across the state, under new government reforms. The ban on personal devices could be rolled out nationally. In the case of Ashley Paul Griffith, many of his crimes were captured in disturbing videos and photos. It is a grim thought that without these videos, police may never have had the evidence to convict him of his horrific crimes.

ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
'Agitated' prisoners allegedly plot riot at Greenough Regional Prison
A plot by inmates to riot and take hostages at a prison in regional Western Australia has sparked further questions about pressure on the state's corrective services system. WA's Prison Officers Union (WAPOU) said staff at Greenough Regional Prison, 400 kilometres north of Perth, uncovered the plot last month. Allegedly hatched by nine inmates, the plan included starting a disturbance and taking staff, including prison officers, as hostages. Greenough was the site of one of WA's worst prison escapes, with 10 inmates going on the run after a riot that left hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in 2018. WAPOU secretary Andy Smith said evidence of the plot was "tested and found to be credible enough" for the union to pressure the Department of Justice to act. "It took pressure from the union to force the department to arrive at Greenough Regional Prison and relocate nine prisoners," Mr Smith said. Asked on Monday about a "riot or similar event", the department denied there had been any "recent disturbances" at the prison. The Department of Justice and Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia have been contacted for further comment. Mr Smith said the near miss was "extremely worrying" to the union. "We don't know if that [hostages] would have been prison officers, pubic servants or civilian staff," he said. Mr Smith said the aborted plot was the consequence of tension at the prison triggered by understaffing and overcrowding. Figures tabled in state parliament last month showed the facility was housing 33 prisoners more than its recommended capacity. "Prisoners are obviously constantly agitated —they're locked up under conditions that they shouldn't have to endure because we don't have the room to keep them." Mr Smith said the impacts included increased violence against prisoners and staff, as well as a greater risk of deaths in custody. "[We're] not able to give the prisoners what they're legally entitled to receive in the way of fresh air and exercise, access to visits or education or gainful employment," he said. "It's [safety issues] going to increase over the coming years before they can build another prison and actually employ the number of officers they need to employ." Geraldton-based criminal lawyer George Giudice this week said the conditions in Greenough Prison were causing "extreme distress" to several of his clients. "It's not appropriate in terms of punishment because it's almost inhumane," he said. "They have three prisoners in a cell, prisoners sleeping on mattresses and prisoners locked down for extensive periods during the day." Mr Giudice said society would need to accept substantially increased spending on the prison system if punitive, tough-on-crime approaches remained popular. "This is the shambles that exists at the moment in the prisons," he said. "If society wants more people locked up, then they should build more prisons and make them suitable to house people."