‘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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Sydney Morning Herald
16 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The big money behind childcare operator at the heart of alleged sex abuse scandal
The childcare operator at the centre of the sector's alleged sexual abuse scandal, Affinity Education, lost money last year as it continued with an acquisition binge designed to give its rich-lister backers a lucrative exit. The for-profit childcare sector at large has come under intensifying pressure following allegations that Joshua Dale Brown had allegedly sexually abused children at several Victorian centres, but the Quadrant Private Equity-owned Affinity has also been dogged by other alleged incidents. Brown's case is still being investigated and remains before the courts. Queensland Police charged a 21-year-old male employee of an Affinity centre in Brisbane on July 10 over an offence alleging indecent treatment of a child. That came as the list of centres that Brown worked at continued to balloon, including additional centres owned by Affinity. Scrutiny of Affinity has been limited compared with the ASX-listed G8 Education – which has had hundreds of millions of dollars wiped from its market capitalisation after the charges against Brown were made public – despite Affinity owning 13 of the 23 centres where Brown worked. But financial statements lodged with the corporate regulator by the Brisbane-headquartered Affinity portray a company on an expansion binge since Quadrant bought it in 2021. Financial statements lodged with ASIC show that in the 2024 calendar year, Affinity posted an after-tax loss of more than $20 million, with huge debt bills playing a significant role, despite underinvestment in staff compared with the rest of the industry. Affinity's accounts for the financial year ending December 31, 2024, show it was saddled with $614 million worth of loans, just shy of the $650 million that Quadrant paid for Affinity in 2021 when the company borrowings totalled $325 million.

The Age
16 hours ago
- The Age
The big money behind childcare operator at the heart of alleged sex abuse scandal
The childcare operator at the centre of the sector's alleged sexual abuse scandal, Affinity Education, lost money last year as it continued with an acquisition binge designed to give its rich-lister backers a lucrative exit. The for-profit childcare sector at large has come under intensifying pressure following allegations that Joshua Dale Brown had allegedly sexually abused children at several Victorian centres, but the Quadrant Private Equity-owned Affinity has also been dogged by other alleged incidents. Brown's case is still being investigated and remains before the courts. Queensland Police charged a 21-year-old male employee of an Affinity centre in Brisbane on July 10 over an offence alleging indecent treatment of a child. That came as the list of centres that Brown worked at continued to balloon, including additional centres owned by Affinity. Scrutiny of Affinity has been limited compared with the ASX-listed G8 Education – which has had hundreds of millions of dollars wiped from its market capitalisation after the charges against Brown were made public – despite Affinity owning 13 of the 23 centres where Brown worked. But financial statements lodged with the corporate regulator by the Brisbane-headquartered Affinity portray a company on an expansion binge since Quadrant bought it in 2021. Financial statements lodged with ASIC show that in the 2024 calendar year, Affinity posted an after-tax loss of more than $20 million, with huge debt bills playing a significant role, despite underinvestment in staff compared with the rest of the industry. Affinity's accounts for the financial year ending December 31, 2024, show it was saddled with $614 million worth of loans, just shy of the $650 million that Quadrant paid for Affinity in 2021 when the company borrowings totalled $325 million.


Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
STI update on childcare kids
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