Latest news with #Footscray
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Victoria to establish state register of childcare workers within weeks, Jacinta Allan says
Victoria's premier has said childcare regulations have 'not worked' and vowed the state's register of childcare workers will be established within weeks, after reports that alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was sacked from multiple centres. Jacinta Allan on Monday said there was a need to strengthen both state and federal regulations governing the sector. 'There has clearly been systems that have not worked,' she said. Wallaby Childcare became the latest centre to confirm it had terminated Brown's employment during his probation period after he worked at its Sanctuary Lakes Centre for five weeks between April and May 2021, with a spokesperson citing that he 'did not align with our company standards or values'. It comes after Nido Early School last week said it had sacked Brown after just 18 days at its Werribee centre in July 2021, after he allegedly breached the company's internal policies around the handling of incident reports. There is no allegation that Brown offended against children while working for Wallaby or Nido. D.O.T.S Occupational Therapy for Children in Footscray also sacked Brown after 26 days working with its non-clinical admin team in March 2024 because 'he was not a good fit', its program director confirmed earlier this month. Meanwhile, allegations that Brown 'forcibly' grabbed children while working for major childcare provider, G8 Education, were reported to Victoria police, the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) and the education department in 2023 and 2024. But the agencies referred the matter back to G8 Education for internal investigation and disciplinary action. The company substantiated both allegations. Typically, such finding would trigger a working with children check review but the ABC on Saturday reported the CCYP used discretionary powers not to escalate Brown's case, allowing him to continue working in childcare. Allan refused to comment on the specifics of Brown's case or the 'decision taken by the independent regulator'. But she said working with children's checks would be included in the review into the childcare sector, led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and senior bureaucrat Pamela White. The premier also confirmed a state-based childcare worker register, announced after Brown's charges became public earlier this month, would be established by the end of August. It will eventually be absorbed into a national register, which federal education minister, Jason Clare, committed to last week. 'This is just a common sense measure. Yes, it should have been in place already … it's been a discussion for some time now at a national, federal–state ministers level,' Allan said. 'We're acting to bring this about immediately … and there is more work that needs to be done. There are systems that need to be strengthened. I absolutely acknowledge that.' She also reiterated the government would accept all recommendations of the Weatherill and White review, due back on 15 August. 'I want to be clear that if there is more action to be taken to keep children safe, then we will absolutely take it,' Allan said. Brown, 26, was charged in May with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims aged between five months and two years old. His case was only made public on 1 July after a suppression order was lifted. The criminal case is in its early stages and he has yet to enter a plea. Since then, police have established Brown worked at 23 childcare centres and the occupational therapy service and urged more than 2,000 children be tested for sexually transmitted infections. Police have said establishing Brown's complete work history had been 'extremely complex' as childcare providers do not have centralised records. They warned 'further updates are likely in the coming weeks'.
News.com.au
01-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Footscray home sets record Franco Cozzo would be proud of
A landmark Footscray home has just smashed the suburb's house price record with a $2.665m sale that will see it's new owners picking up heritage, history and their own ballroom. The 26 Nicholson St property changed hands last week for the hefty sum, 18 years after it last set the local benchmark with a $1.25m sale, according to CoreLogic records. One of the suburb's most illustrious addresses, dating back some 120 years, and formerly used as a ballroom, the property has gained more than doubled in price since its last transaction in 2007. Hocking Stuart Yarraville director Leo Dardha said it was the kind of grand sale local furniture-store icon Franco Cozzo would have been proud of. 'I think Franco Cozzo would have had this in his play book, he could see the potential of this working class, inner suburb of Melbourne that is 2km to the Melbourne CBD,' Mr Dardha said. 'He saw its value back then — and we are realising it right now.' 'It was built by a renowned family who ran the local quarry, and 120 years on it's still one of the grandest homes locally.' Mr Cozzo became famous for his furniture adds, and his tireless promotion of 'Foot-a-scray' where one of his stores was based. The Sicilian-born business man even had a biopic made about his life in 2021. He passed away in 2023. The agent said the buyer was a local family that had appreciated the long history of the home named Heaton. 'It was a ballroom in the '70s and people were coming through who had their children's christenings there,' he added. In what he believed to be Footscray's best pocket, Mr Dardha said it was the homes current owners that had returned it to its original use as a house. Despite this, the home did initially pass in at auction, selling a few days afterwards for the record-setting sum — though below its initial $2.8m-$2.9m price guide. The inner-city suburb's last house price record was set at $2.2m by a four-bedroom house at 63 Ballarat Rd in 2022. Mr Dardha said he believed the next owners were considering using the home's ballroom space as a music room, in keeping with its past. The four-bedroom house on a 1300sq m allotment is also one of the larger properties in the suburb, with multiple living spaces and home offices around its expansive floorplan.
News.com.au
01-07-2025
- News.com.au
Chilling scene outside cafe one day after barista violently assaulted
The initial assault still sits uneasy in the mind of Melbourne cafe owner Moustafa Saoud. But it's what happened the next morning that made him give up his dream and walk away. Mr Saoud was the victim of a brutal and completely unprovoked attack inside his Eleven: 11 cafe on Buckley Street in Footscray last week. Confronting CCTV footage of the attack shows a hooded man walk through the front doors, approach Mr Saoud behind the counter and throw a punch directly at his mouth. In the vision, Mr Saoud scrambles for safety but the assault continues. When his attacker is done, he calmly walks back out the front door. Mr Saoud told that the most chilling part of the attack was that not a single word was uttered. 'He didn't say anything. Even when he left he didn't say anything.' But Mr Saoud, who opened the cafe in November last year — hence the name — said what happened the next day was worse. It was what tipped him over the edge and confirmed his decision to close permanently. He told that he made a police report on the Friday night that the attack took place, but the man who attacked him returned to the cafe the following morning. 'He came on Saturday morning to my cafe and asked for a cigarette. I gave him one and he stayed outside. But after 10 minutes I went to check if he was still hanging around.' Mr Saoud said what he saw when he went outside was horrifying. 'He had cut himself with a knife and there was blood everywhere. Police and ambulance came. I saw him on the floor, there was so much blood.' He said the possibility that his attacker was carrying a knife at the time of the assault was chilling. 'That's why I'm scared. Maybe next time he was going to use the knife.' Mr Saoud, who opened the cafe with the help of his brothers, said his mum had begged him to close. 'She said, 'please don't go there anymore'. My brother said, 'let's close the cafe, it's not worth it'.' Footscray, which sits 5km west of the Melbourne CBD, has seen crime rates explode in the last few years, driven in large part by drug activity. There were 3530 criminal incidents recorded in Footscray last year, up from 2797 the year before. Assaults were at a record high in 2025 when 380 were reported to police. Four years ago, there was exactly half that number, according to data from the Crime Statistics Agency. The attack on Mr Saoud came just five days after veteran photographer Dominic O'Brien, 62, died after allegedly being attacked in Footscray. Mr O'Brien was allegedly assaulted on Nicholson Street in Footscray on June 15. Lominja Friday Yokoju, 43, is accused of approaching Mr O'Brien before striking him and stomping on his head as he lay on the ground. The former high court immigration detainee was charged with intentionally causing serious injury. The charge was later upgraded to murder. Yokoju has not entered a plea and was remanded until October 20. Mr O'Brien was a respected photographer who worked with major publications including The Australian and The Age. In April, Footscray was also the scene of a fatal shooting. Officers arrived on the corner of Paisley and Albert streets on April 17. Abdinasir Abdullahi Salad, a Somali refugee, allegedly rushed at the officers with a knife when they fatally shot him. It has been reported that Salad was homeless and had mental health issues. The Coroners Court of Victoria heard the 35-year-old had stolen a knife from the nearby Kmart store and that police yelled, 'don't move, drop the knife' before the shooting. In March, there was another violent incident in Footscray. Video obtained by the Herald Sun showed a woman hurling a beer keg into a shopfront over and over before grabbing shards of glass and running at bystanders. She was tackled to the ground in an incident that locals said was becoming all too familiar. A month earlier, a man was left fighting for his life after a machete attack in the same suburb. CCTV of that incident showed a brawl spilling onto the street before one man allegedly pulled a machete and stabbed a 24-year-old several times. Mr Saoud said crime is being fuelled by drugs and that it is worse now than it was when he first opened. 'When I opened, it was alright. It was beautiful, nice and quiet. It's a great community. It started getting worse. 'It's not nice. Everybody is worried about their kids. Customers always say they are worried. They're scared to walk around after 6pm.' He said walking away from the cafe was a difficult decision, emotionally and financially. He is locked in to a lease and needs somebody to take it over before he can move on. 'Nobody is going to want to do that,' he said.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Coalition demands rewrite of laws to re-detain NZYQ members
Unused laws to re-detain former immigration detainees released under the High Court's NZYQ ruling should be rewritten, the Coalition has said, after the government conceded it had not been able to use them. The federal government rushed "preventative detention" laws through in late 2023 with the Coalition's support, after a High Court ruling caused the release of dozens of people with serious criminal convictions who had served their time but remained in immigration detention. The laws enabled the government to apply to have high-risk members of roughly 300 people released from the NZYQ ruling placed back in detention, if they were deemed to pose a threat to community safety. After an ex-immigration detainee allegedly murdered a 62-year-old man at Footscray mall while on bail and wearing an ankle monitor, scrutiny has again returned to how the government is handling the NZYQ cohort. Shadow Immigration Minister Paul Scarr said the government had failed to use powers it had been given 16 months ago. "We were told that the work was underway, evidence was being collected … and then we have the shocking admission 16 months later that it wasn't practical to make applications," Senator Scarr said. "We should be looking at how to amend the legislation." The Coalition supported the government's 2023 Community Safety Orders, and moved its own amendments to that legislation. Senator Scarr acknowledged that, and did not offer proposals for how the scheme could be rewritten. But he said until the weekend, the government had been assuring it was in the process of applying to re-detain the cohort. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Sunday that the legislation had set a high bar for people to be placed back in detention and none of the cohort had yet met it. "The reality is the legal thresholds we are stuck with because of some of the decisions of the High Court are more difficult to reach than I wanted them to be," he said. The minister said he had not given up on that effort, but his preference now was to see the group deported. The government is wary of a further loss in the courts that could again restrict its legislative ability — the ruling in NZYQ that overturned two decades of precedent was that indefinite ongoing detention was punitive in nature, and therefore unlawful. There is a risk for government that detaining people who have not committed an offence, or applying overly harsh punishments to offences such as a breach of curfew or monitoring conditions, could also be thrown out in a High Court challenge. The Law Council of Australia said at the time of the laws being passed that preventative detention should only be allowed in exceptional circumstances and imposed after a fair hearing by a court.
Daily Mail
29-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Café that makes the 'best coffee in Melbourne' is forced to shut down after owner was brutally attacked at work: 'It's no longer safe'
A Melbourne café owner who was brutally assaulted at work has closed down his successful business after just seven months, declaring that he no longer feels 'safe'. Moustafa Saoud, the owner of Eleven: 11 café on Buckley Street in Footscray, was punched and kicked by a hooded man on June 20 in a horrifying attack that was captured on CCTV. The disturbing footage shows the man approaching the owner who is standing behind the counter. Mr Saoud is then punched in the face and kicked repeatedly. The assailant had visited the café earlier that day on two occasions to ask for a cigarette. On his second visit, he was refused a cigarette before returning for a third time and carrying out the attack. Co-owners Mr Saoud and Alex Saoud made the difficult decision to shut down the business following the shocking incident. The brothers say they have noticed a spike in drug-related violence in the area in recent months and that it's too dangerous to continue trading. 'It's not worth it, to lose my life for,' Mr Saoud told Nine News. 'I'm not gonna be safe anymore.' 'I don't need to make my mum, my dad upset, him upset. It's not safe,' Mr Saoud's brother and business partner Alex agreed. Locals are devastated the café is closing and are fed up with the reported increase in violence and drug-use in the area. Some are worried the increase in violence will deter new businesses from setting up in the area in the future. One resident said the café 'made the best coffee in Melbourne' and will be sorely missed. Victoria Police regularly patrol the area around Footscray daily to prevent drug offending and violent behaviour.
