The big money behind childcare operator at the heart of alleged sex abuse scandal

The Age

25-07-2025

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.