Latest news with #WorkingWithChildrenCheck
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Calls for review into authorities' handling of complaints about alleged childcare abuser Joshua Brown
Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex offences which may distress some audience members. The Victorian government is facing calls for a full review into authorities' handling of complaints about accused childcare abuser Joshua Brown's conduct in the two years before his arrest. Police have charged Mr Brown with 70 offences, including alleged sexual assault, relating to eight children at Creative Garden childcare centre in Point Cook in Melbourne's south-west. The ABC yesterday revealed that Mr Brown was the subject of two complaints at the same centre, investigated and substantiated by the centre's operator, in 2023 and 2024. Neither complaint was sexual in nature and came after his alleged period of offending but in the two years before he was arrested and had his Working with Children Check revoked. Both incidents were reported to Victoria's Reportable Conduct Scheme, flagged with the Commission for Children and Young People, the Department of Education and Victoria Police, and investigated and substantiated by the centre's operator G8. Despite the substantiated finding, the commission used discretionary powers not to escalate Mr Brown's case for a review of his Working with Children Check, missing an opportunity to reassess his clearance to work with children. Child advocate Hetty Johnston said the system designed to protect children was instead failing them. "The government has to take responsibility for this. It is outrageous." Ms Johnston added: "I am disgusted in government and the way they are handling the protection of children and vulnerable people. "We have to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children and that means that anybody that is found to be treating children with anything but the utmost respect and care, should not be working with children." Following questions from the ABC, childcare giant G8 issued a statement to parents on Saturday night detailing the alleged incidents reported to authorities. It said it investigated and substantiated an allegation in April 2023 that Mr Brown "aggressively picked up and put down" a child and failed to support that child while they were upset. He faced disciplinary action, including a formal warning, but returned to work after three months' leave. G8 also investigated a second incident, in January 2024, in which Mr Brown allegedly "raised his voice … forcibly grabbed the arm of one child, the leg of another child and forcibly pulled off that child's shoe". The company said Mr Brown was suspended pending an investigation and then resigned. The report was later substantiated by G8. With no scrutiny on his Working with Children Check, Mr Brown went on to work at 10 other centres across Melbourne, owned by another company. A parent whose child attended one of those centres — Papilio Early Learning in Essendon — told the ABC he was horrified Mr Brown was allowed to work there despite the two previous findings. "It makes my blood boil," he said. It is not clear whether the operator of that centre, Affinity Education, was aware of the findings. On July 1, authorities took the rare step of publicly identifying Mr Brown as it announced that he had been arrested and charged with dozens of alleged offences. They urged 1,200 children to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. "I am angry at the system now; it's not just the centre, it is the system that needs to be fixed," the parent said. "This is ridiculous. "There needs to be a proper review, there needs to be some major changes to the system. The Commission for Children and Young People, Department of Education and Victoria Police have all refused to respond to the ABC's direct questions about the reports regarding to Mr Brown's conduct. The Victorian government has established a webpage with information for affected families. Information, including details of the government's dedicated hotline, can be found here. The government has commissioned a "rapid review" into safety in the childcare sector but will not probe the performance of the state's childcare regulator. Government minister Vicki Ward faced a series of questions about the handling of the complaints and whether it would scrutinise the action of its own authorities, at a press conference on an unrelated matter today. "We have been very clear about the parameters of the review and the review is undertaking that work and taking that work incredibly seriously," Ms Ward said. "We are waiting for those recommendations to come forward so that we can act on them." Asked directly how she would feel as a parent who learnt Mr Brown had multiple substantiated findings against him, but went on to work at other centres, Ms Ward said: "Any parent with a child who is in care … we are all horrified by these allegations. Opposition education spokesperson Jess Wilson said: "To deliver lasting reform that will fix our failing system and protect children in childcare settings, every aspect of the system should be subject to this review — including the government's regulator and related statutory bodies."
7NEWS
2 days ago
- 7NEWS
Fresh allegations against accused paedophile Joshua Brown as parents sent shocking e-mail about conduct
Accused paedophile Joshua Brown 'aggressively' manhandled children in his care, according to a new report published by The Daily Telegraph on Sunday. Last month, Brown, 26, was charged in relation to eight victims who attended a Point Cook childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023, which include 70 offences. The newly uncovered allegations are unrelated to the earlier charges. G8 Education sent a letter to families on Saturday that Brown was at the centre of two separate investigations, which were reported to Victoria Police and the education department. In April 2023, Brown was investigated after he was accused of aggressive conduct towards a child. '(He) aggressively picked up and put down and did not uphold the dignity and rights of a child in his care,' the e-mail said. The allegations were reported by three team members. Brown was given a 'written formal warning' and placed on an improvement plan for his work performance following the incident. Brown opted to take extended leave after the disciplinary action. In a separate incident in 2024, Brown 'forcibly grabbed the arm of one child, the leg of another child and forcibly pulled off that child's shoe', according to the e-mail. He was suspended during the second investigation and eventually resigned. At this time, Brown had a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC). Despite recent claims Brown was not known to police, the e-mail confirmed the incidents were reported to Victoria Police. The allegations did not spark a review of his WWCC, which allowed him to work at other centres.
ABC News
5 days ago
- ABC News
Australia at a 'turning point' for broken Working with Children Check system
What is it going to take to finally fix our broken child safety system? Sixty-nine children proven to have been abused by one man in childcare in Queensland and Italy wasn't enough. A care worker in South Australia proven to have sexually abused toddlers wasn't enough. Now there are horrific allegations of eight babies and toddlers being abused at a Melbourne childcare centre, with 1,200 children having to be tested for sexually transmitted infections. Federal and state politicians are lining up to acknowledge not enough has been done, and they will act "swiftly" to protect our children. But as a nation we have been here before on catastrophic child safety failures and we will be here again unless the rhetoric is finally replaced by action. Governments across the country are talking tough, trying to reassure parents and families they understand change is needed. But they already knew that. They were warned to act a decade ago and, in fact, given a set of instructions on exactly what to do. Ten years ago, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended: Neither has happened. Robert Fitzgerald, one of the inquiry's commissioners, said that's shameful. He said the Working with Children Check system was just one measure to protect children, but a critical one. "There doesn't need to be any more reviews or any more inquiries, or any more royal commissions," he said. Since those recommendations were not followed, there has been case after case of abusers working with children. In 2015, Families SA worker Shannon McCoole was jailed for abusing children as young as 18 months old in his care. In 2021 a Victorian youth worker Alex Jones was jailed for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy, after using a government database to search for information on him. And in 2022, paedophile Ashley Griffith was charged with sexually abusing 69 children in childcare in Queensland and Italy over two decades. He's also facing charges of abusing a further 23 children in NSW. The ABC understands some of the families of Griffith's victims have met with at least one attorney-general to lobby for a national WWCC system. These families believe the current system is broken, with not enough checks or information sharing. They say a national system could have red-flagged Griffith years before he was charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offences over 20 years because complaints made against him were not shared between agencies. Griffiths's offending is now the subject of multiple reviews, one of which last week found Queensland's WWCC (known as a Blue Card) gave "legitimacy" to predators because it lulled people into a false sense of security. A 2025 update report from the lead agency on national reform of the WWCC, the National Office of Child Safety, shows there have been years of commitments, reviews, feasibility studies and scoping. But still no national system. The Australian Childhood Foundation's survivor advocate Emma Hakansson hopes the allegations before the courts in Victoria will prove to be a "Port Arthur" moment. A moment in time when politicians say "never again". "Because if this won't lead to change, what will? "Public trust in the Working with Children Check is lost. "Mandatory training for WWCC registration and stricter rules around who can receive a check must be implemented should that trust ever return." Working with Children checks do not require mandatory training. It's an online application based on a criminal record check. The scope of what the check takes into account depends on where you live in Australia. The ABC's reporting has exposed failures in the system in virtually every jurisdiction. In Victoria people under police investigation can continue to work with children. Premier Jacinta Allan, who was almost in tears as she revealed the allegations against Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown last week, has said she is angry and sickened by the alleged offences that are before the courts. But she and her predecessor Daniel Andrews have had ample opportunity for more than six long years to act. In 2019, the then children's commissioner Liana Buchanan warned that Victoria's WWCC laws stopped her from passing on concerning information. In 2022 the Victorian ombudsman asked the state government to urgently change the laws. The report tabled to parliament reads like a horrifying thriller. Particularly the realisation of Working with Children Check Unit workers that Victoria's laws stopped them from cancelling the check of former youth worker Alex Jones who was being investigated for raping a 13-year-old boy. His check remained valid, despite allegations he'd assaulted children interstate, had accessed child abuse material, and was actively grooming children. In the report the director of WWCC Victoria observed: "[It was] frustrating and concerning. … [I remember saying], 'This guy is desperate. He wants to get access to children. "We have to do something here.' We had no other trigger [to reassess his clearance]," the director said. The director of the WWCC was eventually able to cancel Jones's credentials based on a dishonesty offence. It took months. In the wake of the latest childcare abuse charges in Victoria, experts are warning parents to listen to their instincts, and to speak up. That's exactly what Louise Van Loon did — before the system worked against her, and she was taken to court. She followed guidelines from the Victorian children's commissioner and told schools her alleged abuser had been arrested. The police response was to take out an intervention order against her. Do you know more? Contact Josie Taylor on secure email josiegtaylor@ Louise Van Loon is among those now calling for parents and carers to be informed if a WWCC holder has been arrested in relation to child sexual offences — even if they're not charged. A national system could allow more critical information like this to be shared: allegations, red flags from child protection or police intelligence reports. Any information that helps protect children, such as in the Northern Territory where "all available information relating to the individual" can be considered when granting a WWCC. In April this year the ABC asked the Victorian government what had been done since the ombudsman's 2022 damning report. Nothing, they said. It was only when the ABC asked questions about it that Premier Allan ordered a review of her state's WWCC, in April this year. That review has prompted one minor change: allowing Education Department prohibition notices to be able to be considered by the WWCC unit, to take effect in August. It wasn't until the Melbourne childcare allegations were made public that Premier Jacinta Allan announced she'd fast-track a register of child care workers and bring forward a ban of personal devices in centres from September. She appointed former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill to lead a review into childcare, after he led SA during a horrific failure of child protection. Ms Allan knows the public is demanding action and has already revealed she will adopt all the recommendations of Mr Weatherill's review, long before he is due to finish it in August. It's a stark contrast to 2022 when the Victorian government's response to the ombudsman's report was to wait for "national reform". How is that national reform going? Shockingly slowly. And where is the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on this issue and his response to the National Children's Commissioner's repeated plea to make child safety a priority? He is yet to speak publicly on the childcare charges, or address the lack of a national Working with Children Check. This isn't the moment to flinch.
ABC News
02-07-2025
- ABC News
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says Working with Children Check reforms 'can't happen soon enough'
Reforms that would standardise Working with Children Checks across the country "can't happen soon enough", the federal education minister says, in the wake of allegations of child sexual abuse at a Victorian childcare centre. A decade after a Royal Commission recommended the checks should be streamlined, Jason Clare acknowledged change has been too slow. "It's taken too long to do the work necessary to make sure that our Working with Children Check (WWCC) system is up to scratch," he said on Wednesday. The issue will be on the agenda at a meeting of attorneys-general next month, which will also consider implementation of real-time updates to WWCCs based on changes to criminal records. It comes after police charged Joshua Dale Brown with more than 70 offences relating to allegations involving eight alleged victims at a centre in Melbourne's south-west. Mr Brown, 26, was not known to police and had a valid WWCC, which has since been cancelled. On Wednesday, detectives investigating him charged a second man, Michael Simon Wilson, in relation to child abuse material and sex offences. The Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended in 2015 that WWCCs across the country be both standardised and nationalised. Industry groups and advocacy bodies have voiced their support for the proposal, but it is yet to be implemented. Former Royal Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald told the ABC it was "shameful" the work has not been done. "The evidence was overwhelming 10 years ago and it's even more-so today." He called for collaboration between federal, state and territory governments — and the urgent establishment of a national system, along with a real-time police database. While the purpose of WWCCs is consistent across Australia, there are variations between states and territories on who requires the check, the vetting process and follow-up monitoring. Even its name varies depending on where you live. In Queensland it's known as a "blue card", while in the ACT it falls under a broader Working With Vulnerable People scheme. Mr Fitzgerald said developing a national approach has been difficult because states have different approaches to the screening process. "Some states, for examples, only look at criminal convictions, some states look at allegations in relation to professional misconduct," he told ABC NewsRadio. He said, in effect, the variation meant a person who has been knocked back in one state may be approved in another — presenting a dangerous loophole. Mr Fitzgerald added that the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, a Commonwealth agency, coordinates a criminal check scheme. "At the time that we made these recommendations, that scheme could have been replicated in relation to the Working With Children's regimes," he said. "Why wasn't it? The Commonwealth really didn't want to get involved in the coordination of a scheme and the eight governments were too protective of the differences that exist in their scheme." An ABC investigation found earlier this year that Victorian authorities were most limited of any state or territory in the information that can be considered during assessment. Following a state government review, screening regulations will be changed in August so that authorities can consider Education Department bans when determining or revoking a WWCC. But the reforms will not allow the Victorian system to consider information that forms part of the screening process in other states, such as child protection reports or police intelligence. Other information that is considered in some jurisdictions includes spent convictions, pending charges, past exclusions from child-related work, domestic violence allegations and findings made in other jurisdictions. Some states, such as Western Australia, can also consider reports from professionals such as doctors and psychologists. Despite calls from some parts of the community, there is no jurisdiction that screens an applicant's social media profiles or history as part of the check. States and territories also have different requirements on when a WWCC is required. Childcare workers everywhere are required to have a valid WWCC — even, in some jurisdictions, managers who do not have direct contact with children. Other areas are not as clear-cut — and exemptions are available in some circumstances. In the Northern Territory, for example, a clearance is not needed if a volunteer is visiting and working with children for less than 30 days of the year. South Australia and Tasmania have the same exemption but only up to seven days, while in New South Wales the exemption applies for up to five days under certain conditions. Checks are valid for five years in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT but for only three years in Queensland and Western Australia. The NT requires the most frequent renewal, with a two-year expiry date.
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.
