Childcare centres' big call on male staff
Inspire Early Learning – which operates 16 childcare centres in the state – sent a letter to parents on Friday announcing the changes, as per 7News.
Chief curriculum and quality officer Eleinna Anderson told families the changes were to ensure they remained 'sensitive and responsive to family needs', and that male staff would still play a 'vital role' in activities and classroom preparation among other duties.
'The wellbeing and safety of your children are at the heart of everything we do,' she said.
'We're writing to share a few important updates to our guidelines around staff interactions with children and team responsibilities – changes made with careful thought and a continued commitment to maintaining a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for all.' Police allege Joshua Brown sexually assaulted young children, produced child abuse material and contaminated food with bodily fluids among other charges. Picture Supplied., Credit: Supplied
It has been reported educators have also been told to refrain from kissing or having other unnecessary contact with children, and to seek consent if holding hands or a gentle hug is needed.
It comes after childcare worker Joshua Brown was charged with more than 70 offences, after he allegedly abused eight children at a childcare centre in Point Cook, Melbourne.
It is alleged some children were as young as five months.
The families of 1200 children have been directed to have their children tested for sexually transmitted infections.
Police confirmed they are investigating Mr Brown's employment at 20 Melbourne childcare centres and had a suppression order on his name removed to inform families with children at the affected centres to get tested.
Inspire Early Learning is not among the centres Mr Brown is said to have worked at. Independent Collective of Survivors founder Louise Edmonds called for a ban on male childcare workers following the shocking allegations against Melbourne educator Joshua Brown. Credit: Supplied
The allegations against Mr Brown sparked an immediate reaction from authorities and advocates around the country.
Child abuse victims' advocate Louise Edmonds, a founding member of the independent Collective of Survivors, was among the most prominent voices calling for men to be banned from working at childcare centres.
'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 on Today.
'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.
'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.' Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he would introduce legislation to strengthen working with children checks. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia
Politicians have vowed to introduce new laws to strengthen working with children checks, that were recommended a decade ago during the 2015 Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he would introduce legislation to allow fraud investigators to conduct random, unannounced visits at childcare centres without a warrant, and without the need to be accompanied by police.
He would also introduce laws to allow the federal government, which currently provides $16bn of annual funding to centres, to scrap payments to places which do not meet standards.
State and federal ministers will discuss how CCTV cameras can be used to monitor childcare centres and Attorneys-General will work out better ways to share information.
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The Age
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‘Grave fears': Overdose deaths reach 10-year high in Victoria
Christoforou said alcohol and other drug treatment services were unable to cope with the requests for help, resulting in excessive waiting times that could span months, effectively making treatment unattainable. 'We are worried that people are giving up,' he said. 'This data is again marked by an increase in heroin-related fatal overdoses. The continuing debate on the value of medically supervised injecting, led by misinformed and stigmatising narratives, has sadly stymied further support. What we see in today's data is the real impact of these debates.' Christoforou said increasing medically supervised injecting spaces in high-risk areas was a matter of urgency. Loading While the number of heroin-related deaths has fluctuated substantially year-to-year over the past decade (except for the Yarra local government area, where they have been stubbornly high), they accounted for more than 40 per cent of fatal overdoses in 2024. The vast majority, about 80 per cent, took place in metropolitan Melbourne. Almost half of the fatal heroin overdoses in the Yarra area – which includes the inner-city suburbs of Abbotsford, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Fitzroy North and Richmond, among others – occurred in parks, alleys, toilet blocks and other public spaces. Dr Erin Lalor, the chief executive of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, said Victoria lacked a long-term alcohol and drug strategy focused on harm prevention with a dedicated budget. 'The state government consulted with the alcohol and other drug sector last year around a dedicated alcohol and drug strategy, but we are still waiting for its release,' she said. Lalor said health services like pill testing also needed to go hand in hand with prevention programs and education campaigns, particularly for those at risk of an overdose. Loading Victorian State Coroner John Cain said no community in Victoria escaped the impact of overdose deaths. He said ensuring that Victorians could access support, treatment and education was vital. 'We have seen some genuine progress in harm reduction initiatives recently, including the commencement of Victoria's drug checking trial,' he said. 'However, the concerning rise in overdose deaths and especially those involving illegal drugs is a stark reminder that we need to keep building on our harm reduction efforts.' A decade ago, illegal drugs contributed to just under half of Victorian overdose deaths. In 2024, they accounted for 65.6 per cent of deaths, up from 58.9 per cent in 2023 and 54.9 per cent in 2022. While deaths linked to pharmaceutical drugs have declined by nearly 10 per cent since 2015, the substances continue to contribute to a significant proportion of fatalities. In 2024, there were 405 fatal overdoses where pharmaceutical drugs were detected. Benzodiazepines were the most common type of drug detected, followed by prescription opioids, antidepressants, antipsychotics and anticonvulsants. Both benzodiazepines and pharmaceutical opioids have experienced a drop, most likely as a result of changes to prescribing practices and the roll-out of the SafeScript system, which allows doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to access a patient's prescription history for high-risk medication. The data shows men are, on average, twice as likely as women to die from an overdose, with people between the ages of 35 and 54 most at risk. The rate of overdose deaths among men reached its highest level in a decade in 2024, after jumping 16 per cent from the previous year.
