Latest news with #JoshuaBrown
Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Failing childcare centres will get grace period before funding is pulled
Childcare centres that egregiously fail to meet minimum standards will still have a month's grace period to resolve their problems before the government steps in to strip them of taxpayer funding, under new laws proposed by the Albanese government. The rules were introduced to federal parliament on Wednesday following a spate of sexual abuse allegations levelled against Victorian childcare worker Joshua Brown, claims of children being mistreated in NSW, and earlier incidents in Queensland. Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted the government had failed to act fast enough on the issue and introduced the bill to let the government shut centres down, put conditions on their operations, or strip their funding, as one of Labor's first actions in parliament after its re-election. 'I want centres to get to those standards,' Clare said. 'We don't want to have to shut centres down.' But he said parents deserved to know if conditions had been imposed on a centre so they could decide where to send their children. Without government approval, centres will be denied access to the federal Childcare Subsidy, which covers around 70 per cent of their costs on average. Labor expanded access to childcare subsidies before the election and has committed to building more childcare centres, driving the sector to expand rapidly, which has created an opportunity for for-profit operators to expand and put pressure on staff recruitment. Education authorities already have the power to shut down a centre immediately if it poses an imminent risk to safety. Mohamed, who asked to be identified only by his first name, has a three-year-old daughter who attends a childcare centre where Brown worked, but did not overlap with him. He said the proposed legislation was 'better than nothing'. 'I think it's a step in the right direction,' Mohamed said. 'They should be losing funding if they don't get their act together. That's the first step. There's always more.'
The Age
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
Failing childcare centres will get grace period before funding is pulled
Childcare centres that egregiously fail to meet minimum standards will still have a month's grace period to resolve their problems before the government steps in to strip them of taxpayer funding, under new laws proposed by the Albanese government. The rules were introduced to federal parliament on Wednesday following a spate of sexual abuse allegations levelled against Victorian childcare worker Joshua Brown, claims of children being mistreated in NSW, and earlier incidents in Queensland. Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted the government had failed to act fast enough on the issue and introduced the bill to let the government shut centres down, put conditions on their operations, or strip their funding, as one of Labor's first actions in parliament after its re-election. 'I want centres to get to those standards,' Clare said. 'We don't want to have to shut centres down.' But he said parents deserved to know if conditions had been imposed on a centre so they could decide where to send their children. Without government approval, centres will be denied access to the federal Childcare Subsidy, which covers around 70 per cent of their costs on average. Labor expanded access to childcare subsidies before the election and has committed to building more childcare centres, driving the sector to expand rapidly, which has created an opportunity for for-profit operators to expand and put pressure on staff recruitment. Education authorities already have the power to shut down a centre immediately if it poses an imminent risk to safety. Mohamed, who asked to be identified only by his first name, has a three-year-old daughter who attends a childcare centre where Brown worked, but did not overlap with him. He said the proposed legislation was 'better than nothing'. 'I think it's a step in the right direction,' Mohamed said. 'They should be losing funding if they don't get their act together. That's the first step. There's always more.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese reveals his bold vision for Australia - and the huge change he has planned
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a greater role for the government in childcare as he prepares to push through legislation tightening up the sector following horrifying allegations of child abuse at Melbourne early learning centres. Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he'd most want to be remembered for. But the accusations levelled against Joshua Brown, whose 70 counts of alleged abuse, including child rape, have raised concerns that the rapid expansion of government subsidies into the sector has not been met with a commensurate increase in safety and scrutiny. 'Well, it reinforces why you need a stronger commonwealth role in childcare,' Mr Albanese said when asked by AAP whether the case had changed his views on how his universal childcare ambition should be enacted. Commentators have criticised the current model of handing subsidies to for-profit providers, arguing the incentive to cut costs and boost margins sacrifices standards and oversight. When asked whether he envisaged the sector being run more like public schools, Mr Albanese said 'we'll see how that evolves'. 'I think it makes sense to have co-location of childcare centres wherever possible in schools. It is just a practical thing to be done. 'If you're starting again you would completely have co-location of child care. 'I know as a parent, we had a public school in our street but we had to send our son to a different school that was driving distance - a short drive - but the next nearest school, because they had after school care. 'That's something that people across the board feel as well - that convenience - and that's part of the productivity agenda.' But first, Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation giving his department powers to conduct spot checks and pull funding from childcare centres deemed to be consistently failing safety and quality standards. It's one of four priorities Mr Albanese identified for his first sitting fortnight back in parliament since his swingeing election win. From Tuesday, the government will also push forward legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent and enshrine penalty rates into law. The fourth priority, Mr Albanese, said will be seeing Labor's 24 new members sworn in and ensuring they all participate fully towards the government's long term goals. 'I'm feeling very energised about parliament coming back and seeing the outcome of the election in real form,' he said. 'What that represents ... is it gives the confidence that we were correct last term to prioritise people's living standards and cost of living, dealing with those pressures, and that we're correct to continue to prioritise that. 'You need to deliver for people what they need in order to then have the legitimacy to push forward on longer term changes.' The prime minister was feeling buoyant as he flew back from a successful six-day tour of China, where he balanced tensions over Chinese military build-up and a mutual desire to strengthen economic ties. Amid coalition criticism that he had failed to deliver enough tangible outcomes, Mr Albanese hit back that they didn't understand how patiently nurturing the relationship would pay dividends in the long-term. Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor's clumsy comments that Australia should be 'prepared to act' alongside the US in conflict with China over Taiwan broke with the bipartisan 'One China' policy in support of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Mr Albanese said. His eye is on a Labor dynasty to carve out a positive future for Australia in a challenging region. 'One of the things we're very determined to do is to have long-term Labor government in Australia so that we can implement the long-term changes that Australia needs. 'The world is changing fast and you can either shape that change or it will shape you.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Definite urgency' for action on child safety checks
Urgency is needed for a national register of childcare workers to improve safety, the attorney-general says, but admits it won't be a silver bullet for issues in the sector. Michelle Rowland said the federal government was working with states and territories on developing a national system, ahead of childcare safety laws being introduced to parliament this week. Implementation of such of a scheme will be brought up during a meeting of federal, state and territory attorneys-general in coming weeks. "We've got different states and territories with their own schemes for working with children checks and reportable conduct - they do not talk to other states and there is no system of oversight," Ms Rowland told Sky News on Sunday. "There is a definite, a definite urgency here and it's been there for some time. "The piece of work that we have ... is to ensure that we have a solution that allows near real-time reporting, access to data, making sure that we've got consistency and uniformity across that. The proposal has been fast tracked after employee Joshua Brown was charged with 70 sex offences against eight alleged victims under two at a childcare centre in Melbourne. Ms Rowland said recommendations for a national working with children scheme were made a decade ago following a royal commission into child sexual abuse. "We're now in 2025. What is important here is that we have action," she said. "We need to be honest, this is not going to resolve everything that we have in the system, but it will be a significant step forward." Laws to strip childcare centres of federal funding if they do not meet national standards will be brought to federal parliament when it resumes. Centres would be required to disclose if they have received a breach notice from the commonwealth. Opposition education spokesman Jonathon Duniam said the coalition would support the changes. "We do need transparency around this. When you're putting your child into the care and trust of people you generally don't know, and you're away for the day, you want to know if there are issues with the centre you're putting your kid into," he told ABC's Insiders program. "We again extend our support to the government to urge state and territory governments to come together and act with urgency to resolve all of the problems we have across the sector." Senator Duniam said he was "baffled" that mandatory security cameras were not in place in childcare centres. "Obviously we need to protect privacy of children, we need to manage those systems," he said. "But with the right safeguards and right management, I think it is essential as part of the protection against kids in this most vulnerable setting."
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Automotive
- NZ Herald
Joshua Brown wins Ōpunake Cup, gives Lance Gussey biggest career win
The rookie pair of Joshua Brown and his owner-trainer Lance Gussey took out one of New Zealand racing's biggest winter prizes in Saturday's $120,000 Listed Sinclair Electrical & Refrigeration Opunake Cup (1400m) at New Plymouth. Things have happened quickly for Joshua Brown, who made his debut 15 months ago in
