Latest news with #JayWeatherill
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Health department ‘regrets' family affected by accused Melbourne childcare paedophile having to test children twice for STIs
The Victorian health department has acknowledged the distress of a family forced to have their children tested twice for sexually transmitted infections after they attended a childcare centre where alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown had worked. It comes as the state's premier, Jacinta Allan, defends the appointment of Jay Weatherill to lead an urgent review into childcare safety in Victoria, accusing the opposition of 'playing politics'. Brown was charged in May with more than 70 child abuse offences involving eight alleged victims, aged between five months and two years, but the case only became public on Tuesday after a court suppression order was lifted. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The offences were alleged to have occurred while Brown was working at a childcare centre in Melbourne's western suburbs. Police are also investigating allegations of offending at a second centre in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Authorities released a list of 20 childcare centres where Brown worked between January 2017 and May 2025, along with his known employment dates. About 2,600 families, whose children attended those centres, were being contacted, with 1,200 children advised to undergo infectious disease screening. The health department has acknowledged that a family has received conflicting information via text regarding which tests were required for their children. The messages, first reported by the Age, show the department initially advised a parent on Tuesday to test their children for gonorrhoea and chlamydia. Two days later, another message added syphilis to the list. While the department said it hadn't received any direct reports of similar issues, it acknowledged the family's distress at having to get their children tested twice. 'We acknowledge this is an extremely distressing time for everyone involved, and regret that this family faced additional stress and anxiety,' a department spokesperson said. 'Our highest priority is the health and wellbeing of the families and children involved, and wrap around supports are available.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The department said different screening tests were recommended for children based on their potential risk exposure, which depended on the time and location of potential exposures to different infections. They said two children who attend the same centre may not receive the same testing recommendations if they had attended at different times. Police are also under pressure to explain why the list of centres on the government website had not been updated, after childcare provider Affinity Education, the operator of 10 of the 20 centres on the list, provided additional details about Brown's work history on Thursday. As of midday on Friday, the website had not been updated. Speaking in Benalla on Friday, Allan said the website would be 'constantly updated' and it was always expected more details would emerge about Brown's work history. '[Police] anticipated that there would be further information [to] come about … the time frames and when this alleged perpetrator worked in different settings, and so that is why we continue to update advice to those affected families,' she said. Allan said the situation proved the need for a Victorian register of childcare workers, which the government was creating while awaiting a national system. It has also announced a ban on the use of personal electronic devices, such as mobile phones, in childcare settings and launched an urgent review into the sector to be led by Weatherill and senior public servant Pamela White. The terms of reference for the review are expected to be released on Friday afternoon. The opposition leader, Brad Battin, said it was disappointing the government had appointed a 'Labor ally' to the review, describing it as an 'insider-led process designed to protect the government'. Allan, however, said Weatherill was the 'best person to lead this work'. 'He knows the questions to ask. He has seen where the system hasn't supported children. He can see where vulnerabilities have laid in the past, and that's why he's the best person to do this work,' she said. She accused the opposition of being 'reckless' and 'playing politics', arguing that their demand for earlier government action would have breached the suppression order. 'I will not do anything to risk the investigation of Victoria police and seeing justice being served in this instance,' Allan said.
SBS Australia
03-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Urgent review to find failures in child safety after shocking abuse exposed in Victoria
Urgent review to find failures in child safety after shocking abuse exposed in Victoria Published 3 July 2025, 8:44 am Childcare centres are on notice with threats about their access to ongoing federal funding after shocking allegations of child sexual abuse in daycare. Former South Australian Premier and childcare expert Jay Weatherill has been appointed to co-lead an urgent review into Victorian childcare safety. After years of investigations and a royal commission into child sexual abuse, the question remains about whether enough has been done to protect children from predators.
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Federal government to fast-track childcare safety legislation as Victoria appoints Jay Weatherill to conduct snap review of sector
The federal government will fast-track legislation in the next sitting week to cut funding to childcare centres that fail to meet safety standards, after shocking allegations of sexual abuse by a worker in Melbourne's western suburbs. It comes as the Victorian government announced former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and senior bureaucrat Pamela White have been appointed to lead an urgent review of childcare safety. The review was set up on Wednesday after it was revealed on Tuesday that Joshua Dale Brown had been charged with sexually abusing eight children, aged between five months and two years old, in his care. The case has sparked widespread outrage and intensified pressure on both federal and state governments to act swiftly, particularly as concerns about safety in the childcare system had already been raised earlier this year. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The federal education minister, Jason Clare, is preparing to introduce new laws to parliament in the first sitting week, beginning on 22 July. Designed to strengthen regulatory and enforcement powers to putting profit over child safety, they will prevent providers persistently failing to meet minimum standards from opening new centres, and cut off childcare subsidy funding for repeat offender operators and those guilty of egregious breaches. New powers will also be introduced to deal with providers that pose integrity risks and introduce new powers of entry to give authorised officers under the Family Assistance Law to conduct spot checks and unannounced visits at centres. Currently they require a warrant or for Australian federal police officers to accompany them. The Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority's 2023/24 annual report shows that 1,599 childcare centres – about 10% of all providers – were rated as 'working towards' meeting the regulatory standards. It remains unclear whether these centres would immediately lose funding under the proposed federal changes. It comes after the Victorian minister for children, Lizzie Blandthorn, criticised of the 'frustratingly slow' progress on national reforms and the lack of federal funding for state regulators since 2018. State and federal education ministers last week agreed more funding for regulators may be considered in the future. 'We all agree it's taken too bloody long, and we're determined to act here,' Clare told Channel Seven's Sunrise on Thursday. The Greens, however, are calling on a federal independent early childhood commission to regulate the sector and act as a watchdog, as recommended by the Productivity Commission's 2024 review into the sector. In a letter to the prime minister, their early education spokesperson, Steph Hodgins-May, said such a commission would work with state and territory governments to enforce quality standards and have the power to crack down on rogue childcare operators and shut down unsafe centres. 'We already have world leading national quality standards, but standards alone are not enough. For them to mean anything, they must be backed by a regulator and clear accountability,' she said. Meanwhile, the Victorian government's review will be led by Weatherill, who now serves as executive director of democracy at the Susan McKinnon Foundation and previously led the Minderoo Foundation's Thrive by Five early learning reform campaign, and White, who has held senior roles across the Victorian public service for three decades. White has worked across child protection, disability, housing, youth justice, emergency management and education and currently chairs the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority and serves on the board of the Country Fire Authority. The review will report back by 15 August and the premier, Jacinta Allan, has pledged to adopt all recommendations and implement them 'as quickly as possible'. 'I say again: this is a criminal matter and I won't say or do anything that could jeopardise the process for justice,' Allan said. 'My government will take every action possible – as soon as possible – to strengthen safety standards in early childhood education and care, to keep Victorian children safe.' The government on Wednesday announced it will develop its own childcare worker registration system as it waits for a national scheme to be established. It will also require all childcare centres to adopt the federal ban on personal devices by 26 September or face fines up to $50,000. The shadow attorney general, Michael O'Brien, said Victoria should also follow New South Wales in removing the right to appeal denied working with children checks, citing a 2022 ombudsman report that described the state's laws as 'some of the weakest in the nation'.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Man working in female-dominated industry exposes sad reality of $70,000 job: 'Weirdos'
A man working as an early childcare teacher has highlighted the sad and awkward reality of working in the crucial sector. These workers are responsible for educating children as they start the navigate the world on their own. It's an important pillar of the community, and the Brisbane-based teacher said it's incredibly "rewarding". But he admitted that it isn't without its challenges. "As you would see in the news... like weirdos doing weird things to kids, and it's not nice, and it's a bit hard for me, as a male staff member in that industry," he told jobs app GetAhead. Aussie earning $180,000 a year for 'easy' job desperate for workers: 'We cannot get enough' Centrelink win for 460,000 pensioners in $450 million federal budget move CBA, Westpac, NAB confirm interest rate blow for Aussie savers ahead of RBA call "I try my best to do the most for the kids, and it's hard because it's a stereotype thing. "I guess it's that males can't look after children... like it's a motherly figure thing to look after kids. So, that's probably my biggest challenge." He is one of a tiny fraction of men in the early childcare education sector. According to figures released last year, only 3 per cent of teachers in the industry are male. The University of South Australia (UniSA) revealed that over the past 30 years, childcare workers and primary school teachers have become even more female-dominated and are now in the top five most gender-segregated careers. There have been calls to address this imbalance, however, fixing this issue is easier said than done. Jay Weatherill, director of early learning organisation Thrive by Five, said getting more men into the sector is crucial for everyone. 'Involving men in early childhood education settings is very important for both young boys and young girls to see that a nurturing role can be undertaken by a male," he said. 'That's going to be important not only for their experiences and relationships that they form in life, but also a more inclusive society.' This was echoed by UniSA education expert Dr Martyn Mills-Bayne. 'When young boys don't see men in early education or carer roles, that is until upper primary or even high school, they inherently learn that men do not belong in such roles, which only adds to a cycle of gender segregation," he said. The Brisbane-based early childhood teacher said he secured his $70,000 per year job after completing his diploma in 2024. Under this pathway, you can get paid to work in the sector as an apprentice. However, to become fully qualified, you'll need to complete a Bachelor's degree in early childhood teaching, which takes three to four years to complete. "You need to love childcare," he said. "That's what I say to people. We have young trainees come in and they hate it within the first couple of months because it's a lot of got to be able to just push through." He decided to pursue the job because his mum was in early childhood education and has loved the idea of the role all his life. "It's just rewarding, like it's the zero to five, which is the most crucial part of a child's life," he in to access your portfolio
