‘The system is so broken': Privacy restrictions helping alleged child abusers, says safety advocate
The warning comes after it emerged alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was able to keep his working with children check despite two internal investigations that substantiated his having 'forcibly' grabbed children.
The 26-year-old former childcare worker is facing 70 charges including child sex abuse that allegedly occurred where he worked.
Child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said she knew of three individuals in Queensland who made complaints about a worker in youth care and received compensation through a redress scheme.
'He still maintained a Blue Card [Queensland's working with children check] ... and it was because information wasn't shared with relevant authorities,' she said. 'That's because of government restrictions around privacy.'
Johnston, is the founder of Safeguarding People Australia and previously founded Bravehearts, a charity dedicated to preventing childhood sexual abuse.
She said the alleged Queensland victims did not go to police, which is not uncommon for survivors of abuse, but each of their complaints was found credible.
Johnston said that under the Northern Territory's scheme, complaints made to police were included in the considerations undertaken for working with children checks, whereas in other jurisdictions such as Victoria and NSW only recorded convictions were taken into account.
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The Age
16 hours ago
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