Worse than every parent's worst nightmare, but here's one big thing to keep kids safe
For anyone who has ever entrusted their child to a daycare centre – or is one of the vast majority of early childhood educators who show up every day to give children the best possible start in life – this news is sickening, heartbreaking, frightening and deeply unsettling. People are asking: how could this happen? How can we ensure this never happens again?
These are critical and urgent questions. And while state and federal governments have announced or floated several measures – from banning mobile phones to improving working-with-children checks and installing CCTV – we must recognise that there is something bigger at stake.
Because this alleged crime is not just a one-off failure. It's a systemic warning – a wake-up call that demands better leadership, stronger oversight and more accountability.
The early-learning sector in Australia has expanded rapidly in recent decades. That's a good thing. High-quality early-childhood education benefits children for life and is essential infrastructure that enables families and communities to function. But while the sector has grown, regulation and stewardship have lagged behind.
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The expansion has largely been market-led, with for-profit providers driving much of the growth. Many deliver quality but we cannot ignore the growing influence of business models that are incentivised to put profit ahead of children. The result? Too many services are understaffed, under-supported and under pressure to cut corners. That's a dangerous mix.
Meanwhile, not-for-profit and community-run services, which are deeply rooted in local communities and more consistently deliver excellent outcomes, are increasingly being squeezed out. If we are serious about safety and quality, we need to support these providers – and make sure every new investment strengthens the sector, not fragment it further.
We already have a strong foundation: Australia's National Quality Framework is world-leading. We know what high-quality education and care looks like. But standards alone are not enough. For them to mean anything, they must be backed by well-funded regulators, clear accountability and consequences when things go wrong.
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The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
'Shameful': national work-with-kids system long overdue
A former royal commissioner has rebuked governments for dragging their feet on creating a national regime for working with children checks. State and federal ministers have been scrambling to fast-track reforms to Australia's childcare sector after it was revealed on Tuesday a Melbourne carer was charged with more than 70 sex offences. Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused eight children aged under two at a Point Cook facility in the city's southwest from April 2022 to January 2023. The 26-year-old, who had a valid working with children clearance, was not known to police or subject to any complaints before his arrest in May. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called on the federal government in 2015 to "facilitate a national model" for working with children checks. Robert Fitzgerald, one of five members of the royal commission, said the recommendation remained unfulfilled. "My view is that is shameful," the now-age discrimination commissioner told AAP. "Ten years on, that job should have been completed and the fact that it isn't means there are gaps in our child safeguarding regime." Every state and territory maintains separate working with children schemes with different rules and requirements. Victoria, Queensland and NSW have all committed to reviewing or tightening up their regimes. Uniform schemes would not completely negate the risk of child sexual abuse but would be an important first step, Mr Fitzgerald argued. A 2022 Victorian ombudsman report exposed "serious flaws" in the state's scheme after former Melbourne City Mission worker Alexander Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018. Jones was investigated for multiple alleged sexual offences in NSW but granted a permit in Victoria because his national police check was clean, as he had not been charged. It remains the case that people under investigation for serious offences can hold a working with children check in Victoria. Only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can lead to it being revoked. Strengthening working with children checks will also be discussed at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in August. Victoria's Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said national reform work was "frustratingly slow". Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the system as complicated but conceded the reforms have taken "too bloody long". Fellow senior frontbencher Clare O'Neil said she didn't have a good answer for why the royal commission's recommendations had been left on the shelf. "A lot of these predators would pass a working with children check," she said. The crisis has also cast a spotlight on educator-to-child ratios across the country. The ratios do not require more than one carer to be around a child or group at any given time, unlike the Netherlands' "four eyes" principle. A father whose two children attended the Point Cook childcare centre wants CCTV installed throughout the facility and questioned the lack of staff supervision. "There should also be two people there at all times," said Satbir, who didn't want his surname included. NSW has flagged a trial of CCTV cameras in centres, while an urgent Victorian review is looking at making the technology mandatory. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A former royal commissioner has rebuked governments for dragging their feet on creating a national regime for working with children checks. State and federal ministers have been scrambling to fast-track reforms to Australia's childcare sector after it was revealed on Tuesday a Melbourne carer was charged with more than 70 sex offences. Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused eight children aged under two at a Point Cook facility in the city's southwest from April 2022 to January 2023. The 26-year-old, who had a valid working with children clearance, was not known to police or subject to any complaints before his arrest in May. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called on the federal government in 2015 to "facilitate a national model" for working with children checks. Robert Fitzgerald, one of five members of the royal commission, said the recommendation remained unfulfilled. "My view is that is shameful," the now-age discrimination commissioner told AAP. "Ten years on, that job should have been completed and the fact that it isn't means there are gaps in our child safeguarding regime." Every state and territory maintains separate working with children schemes with different rules and requirements. Victoria, Queensland and NSW have all committed to reviewing or tightening up their regimes. Uniform schemes would not completely negate the risk of child sexual abuse but would be an important first step, Mr Fitzgerald argued. A 2022 Victorian ombudsman report exposed "serious flaws" in the state's scheme after former Melbourne City Mission worker Alexander Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018. Jones was investigated for multiple alleged sexual offences in NSW but granted a permit in Victoria because his national police check was clean, as he had not been charged. It remains the case that people under investigation for serious offences can hold a working with children check in Victoria. Only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can lead to it being revoked. Strengthening working with children checks will also be discussed at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in August. Victoria's Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said national reform work was "frustratingly slow". Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the system as complicated but conceded the reforms have taken "too bloody long". Fellow senior frontbencher Clare O'Neil said she didn't have a good answer for why the royal commission's recommendations had been left on the shelf. "A lot of these predators would pass a working with children check," she said. The crisis has also cast a spotlight on educator-to-child ratios across the country. The ratios do not require more than one carer to be around a child or group at any given time, unlike the Netherlands' "four eyes" principle. A father whose two children attended the Point Cook childcare centre wants CCTV installed throughout the facility and questioned the lack of staff supervision. "There should also be two people there at all times," said Satbir, who didn't want his surname included. NSW has flagged a trial of CCTV cameras in centres, while an urgent Victorian review is looking at making the technology mandatory. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A former royal commissioner has rebuked governments for dragging their feet on creating a national regime for working with children checks. State and federal ministers have been scrambling to fast-track reforms to Australia's childcare sector after it was revealed on Tuesday a Melbourne carer was charged with more than 70 sex offences. Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused eight children aged under two at a Point Cook facility in the city's southwest from April 2022 to January 2023. The 26-year-old, who had a valid working with children clearance, was not known to police or subject to any complaints before his arrest in May. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called on the federal government in 2015 to "facilitate a national model" for working with children checks. Robert Fitzgerald, one of five members of the royal commission, said the recommendation remained unfulfilled. "My view is that is shameful," the now-age discrimination commissioner told AAP. "Ten years on, that job should have been completed and the fact that it isn't means there are gaps in our child safeguarding regime." Every state and territory maintains separate working with children schemes with different rules and requirements. Victoria, Queensland and NSW have all committed to reviewing or tightening up their regimes. Uniform schemes would not completely negate the risk of child sexual abuse but would be an important first step, Mr Fitzgerald argued. A 2022 Victorian ombudsman report exposed "serious flaws" in the state's scheme after former Melbourne City Mission worker Alexander Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018. Jones was investigated for multiple alleged sexual offences in NSW but granted a permit in Victoria because his national police check was clean, as he had not been charged. It remains the case that people under investigation for serious offences can hold a working with children check in Victoria. Only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can lead to it being revoked. Strengthening working with children checks will also be discussed at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in August. Victoria's Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said national reform work was "frustratingly slow". Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the system as complicated but conceded the reforms have taken "too bloody long". Fellow senior frontbencher Clare O'Neil said she didn't have a good answer for why the royal commission's recommendations had been left on the shelf. "A lot of these predators would pass a working with children check," she said. The crisis has also cast a spotlight on educator-to-child ratios across the country. The ratios do not require more than one carer to be around a child or group at any given time, unlike the Netherlands' "four eyes" principle. A father whose two children attended the Point Cook childcare centre wants CCTV installed throughout the facility and questioned the lack of staff supervision. "There should also be two people there at all times," said Satbir, who didn't want his surname included. NSW has flagged a trial of CCTV cameras in centres, while an urgent Victorian review is looking at making the technology mandatory. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A former royal commissioner has rebuked governments for dragging their feet on creating a national regime for working with children checks. State and federal ministers have been scrambling to fast-track reforms to Australia's childcare sector after it was revealed on Tuesday a Melbourne carer was charged with more than 70 sex offences. Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused eight children aged under two at a Point Cook facility in the city's southwest from April 2022 to January 2023. The 26-year-old, who had a valid working with children clearance, was not known to police or subject to any complaints before his arrest in May. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called on the federal government in 2015 to "facilitate a national model" for working with children checks. Robert Fitzgerald, one of five members of the royal commission, said the recommendation remained unfulfilled. "My view is that is shameful," the now-age discrimination commissioner told AAP. "Ten years on, that job should have been completed and the fact that it isn't means there are gaps in our child safeguarding regime." Every state and territory maintains separate working with children schemes with different rules and requirements. Victoria, Queensland and NSW have all committed to reviewing or tightening up their regimes. Uniform schemes would not completely negate the risk of child sexual abuse but would be an important first step, Mr Fitzgerald argued. A 2022 Victorian ombudsman report exposed "serious flaws" in the state's scheme after former Melbourne City Mission worker Alexander Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018. Jones was investigated for multiple alleged sexual offences in NSW but granted a permit in Victoria because his national police check was clean, as he had not been charged. It remains the case that people under investigation for serious offences can hold a working with children check in Victoria. Only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can lead to it being revoked. Strengthening working with children checks will also be discussed at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in August. Victoria's Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said national reform work was "frustratingly slow". Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the system as complicated but conceded the reforms have taken "too bloody long". Fellow senior frontbencher Clare O'Neil said she didn't have a good answer for why the royal commission's recommendations had been left on the shelf. "A lot of these predators would pass a working with children check," she said. The crisis has also cast a spotlight on educator-to-child ratios across the country. The ratios do not require more than one carer to be around a child or group at any given time, unlike the Netherlands' "four eyes" principle. A father whose two children attended the Point Cook childcare centre wants CCTV installed throughout the facility and questioned the lack of staff supervision. "There should also be two people there at all times," said Satbir, who didn't want his surname included. NSW has flagged a trial of CCTV cameras in centres, while an urgent Victorian review is looking at making the technology mandatory. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
'Shameful': national work-with-kids system long overdue
A former royal commissioner has rebuked governments for dragging their feet on creating a national regime for working with children checks. State and federal ministers have been scrambling to fast-track reforms to Australia's childcare sector after it was revealed on Tuesday a Melbourne carer was charged with more than 70 sex offences. Joshua Dale Brown allegedly abused eight children aged under two at a Point Cook facility in the city's southwest from April 2022 to January 2023. The 26-year-old, who had a valid working with children clearance, was not known to police or subject to any complaints before his arrest in May. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called on the federal government in 2015 to "facilitate a national model" for working with children checks. Robert Fitzgerald, one of five members of the royal commission, said the recommendation remained unfulfilled. "My view is that is shameful," the now-age discrimination commissioner told AAP. "Ten years on, that job should have been completed and the fact that it isn't means there are gaps in our child safeguarding regime." Every state and territory maintains separate working with children schemes with different rules and requirements. Victoria, Queensland and NSW have all committed to reviewing or tightening up their regimes. Uniform schemes would not completely negate the risk of child sexual abuse but would be an important first step, Mr Fitzgerald argued. A 2022 Victorian ombudsman report exposed "serious flaws" in the state's scheme after former Melbourne City Mission worker Alexander Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018. Jones was investigated for multiple alleged sexual offences in NSW but granted a permit in Victoria because his national police check was clean, as he had not been charged. It remains the case that people under investigation for serious offences can hold a working with children check in Victoria. Only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can lead to it being revoked. Strengthening working with children checks will also be discussed at a meeting of state and federal attorneys-general in August. Victoria's Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said national reform work was "frustratingly slow". Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the system as complicated but conceded the reforms have taken "too bloody long". Fellow senior frontbencher Clare O'Neil said she didn't have a good answer for why the royal commission's recommendations had been left on the shelf. "A lot of these predators would pass a working with children check," she said. The crisis has also cast a spotlight on educator-to-child ratios across the country. The ratios do not require more than one carer to be around a child or group at any given time, unlike the Netherlands' "four eyes" principle. A father whose two children attended the Point Cook childcare centre wants CCTV installed throughout the facility and questioned the lack of staff supervision. "There should also be two people there at all times," said Satbir, who didn't want his surname included. NSW has flagged a trial of CCTV cameras in centres, while an urgent Victorian review is looking at making the technology mandatory. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Sky News AU
11 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill picked to co-lead Victoria childcare review following shock alleged child sex crimes revelations
Former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and a Victorian public service veteran have been chosen to lead an urgent review into childcare safety in Victoria following shocking revelations of alleged offences against children by a childcare worker. Victoria Police launched a major investigation after Melbourne man Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was arrested and charged with over 70 child sex offences against eight alleged victims who had been in his care. Mr Brown had worked at 20 childcare centres across the state since 2017, and hundreds of families have been urged to have their potentially affected children tested for 'infectious diseases". A second man, Michael Simon Wilson, 36, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with child sex offences as part of the ongoing police probe. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said Victorians were 'horrified' by the allegations and on Wednesday announced that an 'urgent review' into childcare safety in the state had been commissioned. 'I know that right across our state, (Victorians) turned to one another and asked how this sort of alleged offending could ever be possible within a childcare centre,' the premier said in a statement. The premier said she wanted the review to look at potentially having CCTV installed in childcare centres, and she also announced a 'Victorian register' will be created. Ms Allan on Thursday then revealed the review will be co-led by Mr Weatherill, who served as South Australia Premier between 2011 and 2018, and Victorian public service veteran Pamela White, who has held senior roles within the sector for over three decades. '(Mr Weatherill) is recognised for his leadership in early childhood and tertiary education and was appointed in 2020 to lead the Minderoo Foundation's Thrive by Five early learning reform campaign,' Ms Allan stated. The 'short and sharp' review will hone in on steps the state government can take immediately, the premier said. A deadline of August 15 has been set for the review to report back to the government – which Ms Allan said will adopt all recommendations the review puts forward. Ms Allan has also outlined that the use of personal devices will be banned in the state's childcare centres by September 26, with the possibility of fines of up to $50,000 being imposed on centres if the new rule is breached after that date. '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,' she said. The Victorian Department of Health activated a public health response this week following the arrest of Mr Brown - whose charges include sexual penetration of a child under 12, producing and transmitting child abuse material, and recklessly contaminating goods to cause alarm or anxiety. The department urged parents of children who have potentially been exposed to Mr Brown to be screened for infectious diseases. Victorian Police Acting Commander Janet Stevenson on Tuesday said the investigation is 'incredibly distressing and confronting' for all those involved. 'The most important thing for our investigators was that we needed to identify the [alleged] victims involved,' Acting Commander Stevenson said in a statement. 'These are some of the most vulnerable members of our community and the conversations police have had to have with their families were no doubt life changing in the worst possible way.'
