Latest news with #LouiseEdmonds
News.com.au
03-07-2025
- News.com.au
‘Extreme': Karl Stefanovic erupts over call to ban men from childcare centres after alleged child sex abuse case
Joshua Dale Brown's shocking alleged abuse of children has sparked controversial calls for all men to be banned from working in childcare centres altogether. On Tuesday, Victorian authorities revealed at a high-level press conference that the 26-year-old had been charged with 70 offences after he allegedly abused eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre in Melbourne. It is alleged the children were aged two years to as young and five months. A wide-scale investigation is underway as authorities scramble to determine the extent of his alleged offending. Police allege Mr Brown worked at 20 centres across the state since January 2017. Calls to ban men from childcare Child abuse victims' advocate Louise Edmonds, a founding member of the Independent Collective of Survivors, clashed with Today show host Karl Stefanovic about calls to ban men from childcare on Thursday. 'Banning male workers is a pretty extreme call, isn't it?' Stefanovic asked. Ms Edmonds conceded it was 'extreme'. 'But the thing is, we're now seeing this is the third case of huge amounts of children being exposed to alleged pedophiles and alleged child sex abuses in a childcare centre,' she said. She noted fewer than 8 per cent of male workers were in the childcare industry. 'They have a right to work in that area,' Stefanovic insisted. 'And so many of them are dedicated. The perception is already hard enough for them. And when a story like this happens, it makes it even more difficult for them. They're dedicated professionals.' 'Yes they are,' Ms Edmonds said. 'And without, you know, staining all the good men who are in there wanting to be positive role models for the young boys who are in daycare centres, there are some measures that can be taken.' She said there were 'grave concerns and we shouldn't be looking at the equality space in the sector'. 'We actually have to look at the safety first and foremost of our most vulnerable citizens, which are our children, and a lot of them are voiceless,' she said. 'So children start communicating well at around two years old. The children under two years old, they cannot speak.' Stefanovic agreed it was a 'sensitive topic and protection of kids is the utmost importance, but when you're talking about inequality, banning men just for being men, that's the very definition of it'. 'The sad reality is there's so much lived experience and evidence and data around child sex offenders, and 97 per cent of them are male,' Ms Edmonds said. 'And this is a scary topic and a lot of people, we don't want to talk about it because it's so horrific when it comes to the abuse of children.' One measure that could be put in place 'literally overnight' would be a waiver for parents to opt-in or out of having a male carer look after their child, she said. Rape case led to childcare arrest An investigation into the rape of a teenager in April uncovered the shocking alleged widespread abuse at Victorian childcare centres by a second man, according to a new report. Victoria Police revealed on Wednesday afternoon that Michael Simon Wilson, 36, had been charged in relation to the alleged sexual assault in Coburg on April 16. The Hoppers Crossing man has been charged with a range of sexual offences including rape. Mr Wilson is believed by police to be an associate of Mr Brown. Mr Wilson's alleged offences are not believed to involve childcare centres or any of Mr Brown's alleged victims. But according to the Herald Sun, the crucial breakthrough which led police to Mr Brown came as sexual crimes detectives investigated Mr Wilson for the alleged rape of a 16-year-old boy. Three weeks after the alleged Coburg rape, detectives uncovered evidence of Mr Brown's alleged childcare offending. A massive police operation ensued over the weekend of May 10 and 11, as detectives realised Mr Brown could not be allowed to return to work the following week, the Herald Sun reports. Mr Brown was arrested on the morning of May 12, four days after his last shift at Milestones Early Learning in Bundoora the previous Thursday. Police allege they located a cache of child abuse material at Mr Brown's home. Over the past seven weeks, up to 100 officers worked on the case, including members of the joint anti-child exploitation team and Victoria Police cyber detectives. 'It has been an emotion bomb,' one police source told the newspaper. 'We pulled out all stops. It hasn't stopped since then.' A suppression order was sought by Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions after Mr Brown's arrest while work continued on identifying suspected victims. The order was lifted on Tuesday morning, shortly before the press conference announcing the charges that have shocked the nation. Both men are due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 15. Allegations food contaminated On Wednesday, revealed Mr Brown may have harmed another 1200 children by contaminating their food with his bodily fluids. Mr Brown has been charged with 70 offences, including sexual penetration of a child, producing child abuse material and recklessly contaminating goods to cause alarm or anxiety. Police sources confirmed the latter charge relates to bodily fluid in food. Christian McGrath, Victoria's chief health officer, said 2600 families had been contacted in the fallout from Brown's arrest. The Department of Health has recommended 1200 children undergo screening and testing as a 'precautionary measure'. 'The risk is low, but there's not no risk, which is why we're making this recommendation,' Mr McGrath said, adding the department had assisted 1300 families across Tuesday. Mr Brown is accused of sexually abusing infants during his time at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023. But the investigation has uncovered a far broader potential risk, with police confirming Mr Brown worked at 20 childcare centres across Melbourne since 2017. After Mr Brown tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection, police and the Victorian Health Department spent weeks planning how to inform families and test more than 1200 children. Christian McGrath, Victoria's chief health officer, said 2600 families had been contacted in the fallout from the arrest of Mr Brown. The Department of Health has recommended 1200 children undergo screening and testing for chlamydia and gonorrhoea as a 'precautionary measure'. 'The risk is low, but there's not no risk, which is why we're making this recommendation,' he said in an update from Wednesday. He said the department had assisted 1300 families across Tuesday. 'Has my child been involved?' Meanwhile, parents of Mr Brown's potential alleged victims have spoken to the ABC about the 'heartbreaking' moments they were informed their children may have been abused. 'They told me there had been a person who had been charged with sexual abuse and things related to children and that person had worked in the centre at a point in time as well,' one mother, who was arriving at one of the centres Mr Brown previously work at as police were leaving, told 7.30. 'I was just shocked and it took me a while to process what was going on … also, what does this mean for me? 'You go straight to, 'Has my child been involved in this?'' The mum, who cannot be identified, said Mr Brown had supervised her child during lunch breaks and the thought of what could have happened made her 'feel sick'. She said she had never met Mr Brown but her husband did. 'My husband has seen him and said he seemed quite friendly [and that] he seemed to be really caring towards the children,' she said. Another mother told 7.30 her children went to one of the centres Mr Brown worked at last year. When she received the email notifying her of the alleged crimes, '[my] heart just fell through my stomach'. '[It's] heartbreaking,' she told 7.30. 'It's just these pure little innocent kids. 'My kids were enrolled at one of the daycare centres that was impacted. Thankfully, it was only one day that he was at that centre.' Education Minister's personal link On Wednesday, Education Minister Jason Clare revealed he knew a family impacted by the allegations. 'I know that they're angry because [I know] one of those parents and her two little girls are directly affected by this,' he said. 'And I won't tell you what she told me last night because you can't repeat it on television, but she's right to be mad. 'I'm mad. I think anyone who works in the early education system and there's hundreds of thousands of fantastic people who do, would be angry today as well. 'And my friend is mad because of all of the stress and the trauma and the crap that she and her girls are going to have to go through in the weeks ahead.' Mr Clare said the problem of predators in childcare settings was 'serious' and required 'serious action'. 'It's one of the reasons why I put this on the top of the agenda when education ministers met last week,' he said. 'Let me be clear — when education ministers met to discuss child safety last week, we didn't discuss this case, but we discussed — what are the next steps that we need to take as a nation to make sure that our kids are safe in early education and care?' The federal government has already banned personal mobile phones in centres and changed rules around mandatory reporting from seven days to 24 hours following complaints about sexual or physical abuse. Mr Clare promised further reforms, including cutting off funding for centres that fail to meet minimum standards. He also flagged changes to background checks for workers. 'It's taken too long to do the work necessary to make sure that our Working with Children Check system is up to scratch,' he said. 'I've spoken a number of times with the Attorney-General, Michelle Rowland, the new Attorney-General, and I think I can safely speak on her behalf – she agrees, and is determined to take the action necessary here to make sure that our working with children checks across the nation are up to scratch. 'That'll be something that will be discussed by Attorneys-General when they meet next month.' Not a 'silver bullet' Mr Clare cautioned that a Working with Children Check was not a 'silver bullet'. 'In too many examples, a perpetrator is eventually caught and arrested and sentenced, there's somebody that got a Working with Children Check because they had no prior criminal record,' he said. 'And so it's only one of the things that we need to focus on here if we're serious about making sure that we keep our kids safe.' Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said urgent changes were also incoming for the state. 'There is a substantial amount of work that is already underway across the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to strengthen the safety in the sector,' she said on Wednesday. 'Here in Victoria, though, I won't wait. Families cannot wait. More needs to happen now.' The state government will immediately begin building a register for childcare workers, she said, and will bring forward a policy to ban personal devices in centres. 'To avoid delay, we'll be putting all Victorian childcare centres on notice,' she said. 'They will be required to adopt this ban on personal devices, effective from September 26. 'Childcare centres who don't comply with this ban will have this placed on them as a condition of licence and may face fines of up to $50,000. The Premier will also commission an 'urgent review' into childcare safety, with more details expected at the end of the week. The review will examine the possibility of installing CCTV cameras in centres and the deploying a 'four eyes' principle, meaning children should not be left alone with a single adult. It will also review whether the five-year working with children check time frame should be shortened. Some families will be eligible for a $5000 support payment, the government has confirmed, to help cover alternative care arrangements, loss of earnings and other practical needs in the fallout from Tuesday. Childcare operators respond G8 Education runs more than 400 childcare centres across the country while Affinity Education operates 250. 'We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of child harm,' Affinity Education said in a statement on Wednesday. 'The safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is — and always will be — our highest priority. 'We are deeply distressed by the nature of the charges laid against the individual named in media reports by the Victorian Police. We are co-operating fully with authorities and stand ready to assist their investigation in any way required.' G8 Education said the 'safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is our highest priority'. 'We are deeply committed to providing a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment for all children and families,' it said in a statement. 'We are aware that a former G8 Education team member has been charged with offences involving children. The current charges against the former team member are in relation to offences involving children at Creative Garden Point Cook only. These allegations are serious in nature and are extremely distressing. We are focused on supporting all those impacted not just at our centres, but across the community. 'Aligned with G8 Education's commitment to child safety and protection, during the former team member's employment, all required employment and background checks, including Working With Children Checks (WWCC), were current in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements. 'The individual involved in this matter is no longer employed by G8 Education and is in police custody. 'We are co-operating fully with Victoria Police, the Victorian Government and other relevant authorities as part of the investigation. We are committed to supporting the legal process in every way we can. 'G8 Education has no tolerance for any behaviour that compromises the safety or wellbeing of children. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment further on the specifics of the case.'
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Karl Stefanovic clashes with woman calling for ALL male workers to be banned from childcare centres - after 26-year-old man charged with sickening offences shocks Australia
A proposal from a collective of child abuse survivors calling for a ban on male workers in childcare centres has ignited a fierce debate. The proposal comes after two men were charged by sex crimes detectives. Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was accused of abusing eight children aged between five months and two years at one centre in Point Cook. Brown has been charged with 70 offences, including sexual penetration of a child, producing child abuse material and recklessly contaminating goods to cause alarm or anxiety. The latter charge refers to alleged contamination of food with bodily fluids. His arrest triggered a public health alert, with Victoria's Chief Health Officer warning that 1,200 children should get STI testing. Brown had worked at 20 childcare facilities since 2017. On Wednesday it emerged a second man, Michael Simon Wilson, 36, from Hoppers Crossing, had appeared in court on the same day as Brown, charged with child abuse material, sex offences and bestiality. It is understood Michael Simon Wilson's alleged offending not connected to childcare facilities or against same alleged victims as Joshua Dale Brown. Louise Edmonds, who is leading the proposal, spoke with Karl Stefanovic, advocating for a complete ban on male workers in the sector. 'Look, it is extreme for one. But the thing is, we're now seeing this is the third case of huge amounts of children being exposed to alleged paedophiles and alleged child sex abuses in a childcare centre. 'What we're seeing is that less than 8 per cent of male workers are actually in the industry. Stefanovic pushed back, highlighting the challenges already faced by men in the sector. 'Men have a right to work in that area. And so many of them are dedicated. 'The perception is already hard enough for them. And when a story like this happens, it makes it even more difficult for them. But Ms Edmonds argued that the safety of children must come before concerns about gender equality. 'We shouldn't be looking at the equality space in the sector. We actually have to look at the safety first and foremost of our most vulnerable citizens, which are our children, and a lot of them are voiceless. 'So children start communicating well at around two years old. The children under two years old, they cannot speak.' Stefanovic continued to push back highlighting the challenges already faced by men in the sector. 'I get all that But when you're talking about inequality, banning men just for being men, that's the very definition of it But Ms Edmonds stood firm, citing statistics. 'So the sad reality is there's so much lived experience and evidence and data around child sex offenders, and 97 per cent of them are male. 'And this is a scary topic and a lot of people, we don't want to talk about it because it's so horrific when it comes to the abuse of children. As part of her proposal, Edmonds also called for increased surveillance in childcare centre. 'It takes seconds to abuse a child. I'm sorry to say that, but this is the reality. But what we can do with the CCTV, it is linked to a third party child protection agency. 'It is a deterrent if you put it into the areas that are blind spots, like the sleeping quarters, the change tables and the toilets and it is off site, what happens is it deters predators.'
Sydney Morning Herald
02-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
With more allegations of sexual abuse at childcare centres, is banning men the answer?
As horrified parents grapple with the latest sexual abuse scandal at a childcare centre, which has forced 1200 preschoolers to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, an abuse survivors' collective has called for a ban on male workers. Louise Edmonds, a founding member of the Independent Collective of Survivors, says the safety of children must be prioritised over all else. 'With growing evidence and lived experience pointing to the disproportionate involvement of men in cases of child sexual abuse, we must ask difficult questions,' she said. 'In my view, men have no place in daycare centres, not out of prejudice, but out of a duty to prioritise the safety of children over the optics of equality. Safeguarding must come before ideology.' Others argue a ban is not the answer, saying sexual offending – which, crime statistics show, is primarily perpetrated by men – is not the only type of abuse plaguing childcare centres, and that the system must be strengthened to ensure all kinds of child maltreatment are either prevented, or quickly identified, reported and acted upon. Edmonds' comments come as NSW pledges a trial of CCTV in childcare centres and moves to ban people who have been refused a Working With Children Check (WWCC) from appealing the decision. Concerns about safety in the early childhood sector have intensified amid a growing number of serious allegations against childcare workers. Loading In separate incidents over a single month last year, three NSW childcare workers were charged with sexual touching of children or, in one of the cases, child abuse. Last November, Australia's worst paedophile – childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith – was sentenced to life in prison for 307 sexual offences against 73 victims over almost 20 years. This week, two men, one of whom was a childcare worker, have been charged with serious abuse of young children in Victoria. Joshua Dale Brown is accused of abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne, and police said he and the other man were known to each other.
The Age
02-07-2025
- The Age
With more allegations of sexual abuse at childcare centres, is banning men the answer?
As horrified parents grapple with the latest sexual abuse scandal at a childcare centre, which has forced 1200 preschoolers to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, an abuse survivors' collective has called for a ban on male workers. Louise Edmonds, a founding member of the Independent Collective of Survivors, says the safety of children must be prioritised over all else. 'With growing evidence and lived experience pointing to the disproportionate involvement of men in cases of child sexual abuse, we must ask difficult questions,' she said. 'In my view, men have no place in daycare centres, not out of prejudice, but out of a duty to prioritise the safety of children over the optics of equality. Safeguarding must come before ideology.' Others argue a ban is not the answer, saying sexual offending – which, crime statistics show, is primarily perpetrated by men – is not the only type of abuse plaguing childcare centres, and that the system must be strengthened to ensure all kinds of child maltreatment are either prevented, or quickly identified, reported and acted upon. Edmonds' comments come as NSW pledges a trial of CCTV in childcare centres and moves to ban people who have been refused a Working With Children Check (WWCC) from appealing the decision. Concerns about safety in the early childhood sector have intensified amid a growing number of serious allegations against childcare workers. Loading In separate incidents over a single month last year, three NSW childcare workers were charged with sexual touching of children or, in one of the cases, child abuse. Last November, Australia's worst paedophile – childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith – was sentenced to life in prison for 307 sexual offences against 73 victims over almost 20 years. This week, two men, one of whom was a childcare worker, have been charged with serious abuse of young children in Victoria. Joshua Dale Brown is accused of abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne, and police said he and the other man were known to each other.
ABC News
01-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Expert questions efficacy of soil carbon farming in warmer climates
Efforts to sign up farms in Western Australia's agricultural heartland to carbon farming schemes are being questioned, with an expert labeling the practice a financial risk for growers. Carbon farming group Carbon Sync is looking to sign up growers in the catchments around Irwin and Mingenew, about 360 kilometres north of Perth in WA's Wheatbelt. The practice changes land management strategies, including cover cropping between cash crops and time-controlled grazing to increase carbon storage in the soil. Landholders can then sell 1 tonne of stored carbon for 1 Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) to companies trying to offset carbon emissions. Industry perspective Carbon Sync is a soil carbon farming project developer funded by Chevron. It is the largest of its kind in WA, with 15,000 hectares under its management. Landholders pay Carbon Sync $15,000 per year for the first five years, a uniform cost, regardless of their property size. Managing director Louise Edmonds said Carbon Sync took on a proponent position for projects, meaning it held the risk and responsibility for each project's life. Louise Edmonds says she is confident in carbon farming. ( ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Anna Cox ) Carbon Sync then takes 35 per cent of the ACCUs generated. Ms Edmonds said there was no data yet about how much carbon had been stored from Carbon Sync's portfolio because all projects were in their first year. "Building soil carbon is quite a slow process, and in our projects we will baseline in the first year of the project, then come back five years later to measure the increase in soil," she said. Measuring soil carbon Soil carbon is measured by assessing a 1-metre core sample in a laboratory. The process is repeated five years later. Ms Edmonds said Carbon Sync had not previously done its own testing as the project was new, but the method had been developed over 10 years. "The whole method and the market is at a stage of maturing now where the confidence is there that it can be done," she said. Australian National University environmental law and policy scholar Andrew Macintosh said he believed farmers were taking a major risk as science showed sequestration of additional amounts of carbon in the soil around Irwin and Mingenew would be "unlikely". Andrew Macintosh says he worries farmers are taking a major risk. ( ABC News: Alex McDonald ) He said farmers signing "permanence obligations" of either 25 or 100 years risked not receiving credits or eventually needing to pay credits back due to no sequestration occurring. "I'm very concerned for anybody doing a soil carbon project in [this] part of Western Australia," he said. Mr Macintosh said storing carbon in the soil of the Midwest and Wheatbelt region was unlikely. "It is very difficult to do so in a way that you have confidence that the credit issued in relation to changes in soil carbon actually reflect the impacts of management changes, rather than … seasonal changes," he said. "Natural variability, year-to-year changes driven by climate and [seasons] both naturally result in carbon going up and down. "Those changes are significantly larger than any management changes. "Seasonal variability is the primary driver of the changes in soil carbon stocks. "[The landholder] can start at a time when the soil carbon is naturally high on their land they come back five years later and due to seasonal changes [the levels] have dropped. "So even though they've committed an action, they get no credits or revenue from what they've done. " I think it's very unlikely that they're going to be successful. " Ms Edmonds said the concerns were "fair" as carbon farming had not been attempted in the area before, but Carbon Sync was confident. "We wouldn't have invested all of the time, effort, and money into this if we didn't believe it could be done. We're out there, determining if it can be done," she said. "In every agricultural innovation, there are pioneers and people who believe that it can be done and are willing to give it a go." Project viability Ms Edmonds said projects registered five or six years ago on the east coast were now generating significant gains in soil carbon. The Clean Energy Regulator issued 150,000 ACCUs across two projects in Queensland for the first time under the soil carbon method in 2024. Photo shows A hand in the dirt holds the roots to show a close up of the root system. Dirt, bugs, microbes and carbon, Australian farmers are finally getting large-scale returns for what is sequestered in their soil "The projects that we're registering right now [in WA] are actually trials, you could look at it like that," Ms Edmonds said. "These things don't happen quickly, and the approach that we're taking is a commercial approach to demonstrating the viability of the projects." Professor Macintosh said he believed a small number of projects were working as they should, but "90 per cent or more" were not. He said the fundamental flaw was in the administration by the Clean Energy Regulator. "This scheme is plagued by terrible administration by the body that is meant to regulate this," he said. " I fear that these people haven't been told the whole truth. " A spokesperson for the Clean Energy Regulator said, like any business activity, implementing emission avoidance and carbon sequestration projects would have risks. Project developers say soil carbon has never been measured in the Mid West. ( ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Anna Cox ) "If proponents understand these risks and how to manage them, they can make informed decisions about scheme participation and maximise project outcomes," they said. "Crediting risks under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme are managed by scientifically robust methods, conservative measurement and modeling approaches, and comprehensive administrative controls." Grower concerns Chief executive of farmer representative body Mingenew Irwin Group, Dee McKeown, said he believed in the benefits of soil carbon but said growers needed more evidence before investing in the practice. Dee McKeown says growers are cautious of risk. ( ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Anna Cox ) "There is still a lot of unknown from the grower's side," he said. "The soil carbon side, in particular, there are a lot of perceived restrictions in what we can do with our soil types and with our climate." Mr McKeown said growers did not want to lose efficiencies in their operations and needed to maintain productive land with minimal risk to ensure food security for Australia. "We don't want to put ourselves at risk. We want to know the methods available to us are genuine options to us in the region," he said. "Growers are very unique in that science only applies when they see it in practice because regions are so different." ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt — local news in your inbox Get our local newsletter, delivered free each Thursday Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe
