Latest news with #JoshuaBrown
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
‘Cloud of secrecy' that's failing Australian parents
As Victoria police investigate a number of sexual assault claims linked to Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Brown, lawyer and sexual assault advocate Andrew Carpenter has made a disturbing revelation about another high profile child abuse investigation. Brown, 26, was charged in May with more than 70 offences including sexual activity in presence of a child under 16, sexual assault of a child under 16 and possessing child abuse material. He has yet to enter pleas to the charges. Carpenter's comments, made on Gary Jubelin's I Catch Killers podcast, refer to the handling of the investigation of serial paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith, who last year was sentenced to life in prison for sexual offences relating to at least 73 victims, mostly girls aged between three and five years old, in several early childhood centres across a span of nearly 20 years. Griffith is one of Australia's worst paedophiles, and his crimes shocked the public when, in 2022, the AFP announced the charges against him. Yet Carpenter describes the handling of that investigation – especially in comparison to that currently underway in Victoria – as being 'covered in a cloud of secrecy,' revealing there had been complaints against Griffith since 2014. 'I applaud the Victorian police for their work,' says Carpenter. 'As soon as they uncovered the alleged offender in Victoria, they identified 24 centres where crimes have been alleged to have occurred, they notified thousands of parents and students as to what centres they were, a timeframe in which the alleged offender was working there, and they got on the front foot, set up hotlines for individuals to get information, and asked 1200 children to get STI checks.' In Griffith's case, says Carpenter, the response couldn't have been more different. 'The hardest thing with [Griffith's case] is that the public still doesn't know what centres this offender went to,' he explains. 'And we are talking about almost 3000 counts at the start. I think they whittled it down to about 1500, but it was 73 children that he pleaded guilty to abusing. And the public still does not know which centres he worked at and which timeframe this occurred in.' 'Griffith's crimes were preventable and foreseeable,' he says. 'There were people dating back nine years who actually first raised concerns about him. He was spoken to by the police, but they didn't even take steps to go through his device, on which they would've found tens of thousands of images of child abuse. His crimes were calculated and over a span of time, and the parents that complained about him earlier on didn't see any recourse.' A father himself, Carpenter believes there could be 'hundreds, if not thousands of other students out there that have been impacted by this individual in Queensland that will never be known.' He says the very young age of Griffith's victims would mean many of them may not be able to properly recall events well enough to disclose the abuse. 'I asked my oldest son who's five today, if he remembers a child that he went through preschool and kindy with that he last saw a year ago,' he continues. 'He couldn't remember who it was. And you've got children now, five years after the fact of when this guy had his main offences – they wouldn't remember a thing that happened to them. So the issue here is that we've got one police force that's coming out on the front foot saying 'we need to adequately investigate this now', and then we've got the Queensland police officers that have investigated [Ashley Griffith's crimes] within a cloud of secrecy, where the full extent of his crimes will never be truly known.' 'I mean, we're not even at the tip of the iceberg with Queensland,' adds Carpenter. Equally disturbing, the lawyer says a whistleblower seeking to make media aware of Griffith's crimes ended up being charged with computer hacking. She was later found not guilty of computer hacking allegations. When 60-year-old Queensland grandmother Yolanda Borucki spoke to A Current Affair producers about failings in the investigation into Griffith's crimes, she quickly found herself at the centre of a police raid. Yolanda told reporters that she had made a complaint about Griffith at a Uniting Church childcare facility a year beforehand, but nothing was done. 'A few days later, a task force rocked up at her doorstep and raided her house, and she got charged with computer hacking,' explains Carpenter. 'All for simply saying, 'here is evidence of me providing the childcare centre proof that I had made a previous complaint.' She went through the ringer of a trial and her fight got made public,' he continues. 'Yet the offender who sat in secrecy for many years was able to keep his anonymity for quite some time.'
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Truth about how Australia protects your kids
In an early show of bipartisan goodwill, a Labor childcare Bill is expected to pass through parliament with relative ease, but big issues within the new law are yet to be ironed out by the federal opposition, which is concerned about the children who could be left behind. The new legislation, which was tabled in parliament by federal Education Minister Jason Clare on Wednesday, was proposed in the wake of shocking news out of Victoria where a man is accused of 70 separate instances of child abuse. Joshua Brown, 26, worked at 20 childcare centres between 2017 and May 2025. The Milestones Early Learning and Kindergarten in Greensborough is one of several daycare centres that Joshua Brown worked at. NewsWire / Aaron Francis Credit: News Corp Australia Addressing parliament, Mr Clare said 'mums and dads of thousands of children' were undergoing immense levels of stress and trauma surrounding the wellbeing of their kids. 'Governments of different colours, state and federal, have taken action but not enough and not fast enough. That's the truth,' he said. 'We have to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our children when they walk – or are carried – through the doors of an early childhood education and care service at centres across the country.' Opposition education spokesman Jonno Duniam said he was 'ultimately satisfied' with the proposed Bill, which he said the opposition 'will not delay the passage of … in any way'. 'We'll get these things through parliament this fortnight, but we now need to focus on state and territory governments and what they do to protect children in health care,' he told the ABC's Sally Sara on Radio National on Thursday morning. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the proposed legislation was 'not an idle threat' to childcare providers who didn't toe the line. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'We've got our party room and other arrangements to consider these laws that have only just been introduced, but soon after that I expect they'll be passed and enforced.' Despite the optimism, Mr Duniam said the opposition still had questions for the government about particular elements of the proposed laws. One issue revolves around 'childcare deserts', parts of the country – usually in regional and remote Australia – that have significantly less childcare options than our nation's urban hubs. One feature of the Bill allows the government to withdraw subsidies for centres that perform their child protection duties poorly, but families with no other options may end up bearing the brunt of the punishment. 'A question I've put to the government was 'well, what happens if the funding is withdrawn?' Either a centre is shut and no services are available or, in some cases, when under these arrangements funding would be withdrawn, (the centre) might then send a bill for 100 per cent of the cost to the parents, and that would be unacceptable,' Mr Duniam said. Opposition education spokesman Jonno Duniam said the proposed laws 'only go so far'. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'This is something that remains for interrogation.' When asked if mandatory CCTV would be discussed, Mr Duniam said he was 'kind of baffled' that it wasn't already enforced. 'It is in centres but obviously not mandatory in all jurisdictions. I think the government needs to get it right in terms of its deployment,' he said. 'There are privacy concerns. We know CCTV has been used by perpetrators of these horrendous acts, so while it is a safety measure, we need to make sure appropriate safeguards are in place.'
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Failing childcare centres will get grace period before funding is pulled
Childcare centres that egregiously fail to meet minimum standards will still have a month's grace period to resolve their problems before the government steps in to strip them of taxpayer funding, under new laws proposed by the Albanese government. The rules were introduced to federal parliament on Wednesday following a spate of sexual abuse allegations levelled against Victorian childcare worker Joshua Brown, claims of children being mistreated in NSW, and earlier incidents in Queensland. Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted the government had failed to act fast enough on the issue and introduced the bill to let the government shut centres down, put conditions on their operations, or strip their funding, as one of Labor's first actions in parliament after its re-election. 'I want centres to get to those standards,' Clare said. 'We don't want to have to shut centres down.' But he said parents deserved to know if conditions had been imposed on a centre so they could decide where to send their children. Without government approval, centres will be denied access to the federal Childcare Subsidy, which covers around 70 per cent of their costs on average. Labor expanded access to childcare subsidies before the election and has committed to building more childcare centres, driving the sector to expand rapidly, which has created an opportunity for for-profit operators to expand and put pressure on staff recruitment. Education authorities already have the power to shut down a centre immediately if it poses an imminent risk to safety. Mohamed, who asked to be identified only by his first name, has a three-year-old daughter who attends a childcare centre where Brown worked, but did not overlap with him. He said the proposed legislation was 'better than nothing'. 'I think it's a step in the right direction,' Mohamed said. 'They should be losing funding if they don't get their act together. That's the first step. There's always more.'
The Age
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Failing childcare centres will get grace period before funding is pulled
Childcare centres that egregiously fail to meet minimum standards will still have a month's grace period to resolve their problems before the government steps in to strip them of taxpayer funding, under new laws proposed by the Albanese government. The rules were introduced to federal parliament on Wednesday following a spate of sexual abuse allegations levelled against Victorian childcare worker Joshua Brown, claims of children being mistreated in NSW, and earlier incidents in Queensland. Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted the government had failed to act fast enough on the issue and introduced the bill to let the government shut centres down, put conditions on their operations, or strip their funding, as one of Labor's first actions in parliament after its re-election. 'I want centres to get to those standards,' Clare said. 'We don't want to have to shut centres down.' But he said parents deserved to know if conditions had been imposed on a centre so they could decide where to send their children. Without government approval, centres will be denied access to the federal Childcare Subsidy, which covers around 70 per cent of their costs on average. Labor expanded access to childcare subsidies before the election and has committed to building more childcare centres, driving the sector to expand rapidly, which has created an opportunity for for-profit operators to expand and put pressure on staff recruitment. Education authorities already have the power to shut down a centre immediately if it poses an imminent risk to safety. Mohamed, who asked to be identified only by his first name, has a three-year-old daughter who attends a childcare centre where Brown worked, but did not overlap with him. He said the proposed legislation was 'better than nothing'. 'I think it's a step in the right direction,' Mohamed said. 'They should be losing funding if they don't get their act together. That's the first step. There's always more.'
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese reveals his bold vision for Australia - and the huge change he has planned
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a greater role for the government in childcare as he prepares to push through legislation tightening up the sector following horrifying allegations of child abuse at Melbourne early learning centres. Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he'd most want to be remembered for. But the accusations levelled against Joshua Brown, whose 70 counts of alleged abuse, including child rape, have raised concerns that the rapid expansion of government subsidies into the sector has not been met with a commensurate increase in safety and scrutiny. 'Well, it reinforces why you need a stronger commonwealth role in childcare,' Mr Albanese said when asked by AAP whether the case had changed his views on how his universal childcare ambition should be enacted. Commentators have criticised the current model of handing subsidies to for-profit providers, arguing the incentive to cut costs and boost margins sacrifices standards and oversight. When asked whether he envisaged the sector being run more like public schools, Mr Albanese said 'we'll see how that evolves'. 'I think it makes sense to have co-location of childcare centres wherever possible in schools. It is just a practical thing to be done. 'If you're starting again you would completely have co-location of child care. 'I know as a parent, we had a public school in our street but we had to send our son to a different school that was driving distance - a short drive - but the next nearest school, because they had after school care. 'That's something that people across the board feel as well - that convenience - and that's part of the productivity agenda.' But first, Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation giving his department powers to conduct spot checks and pull funding from childcare centres deemed to be consistently failing safety and quality standards. It's one of four priorities Mr Albanese identified for his first sitting fortnight back in parliament since his swingeing election win. From Tuesday, the government will also push forward legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent and enshrine penalty rates into law. The fourth priority, Mr Albanese, said will be seeing Labor's 24 new members sworn in and ensuring they all participate fully towards the government's long term goals. 'I'm feeling very energised about parliament coming back and seeing the outcome of the election in real form,' he said. 'What that represents ... is it gives the confidence that we were correct last term to prioritise people's living standards and cost of living, dealing with those pressures, and that we're correct to continue to prioritise that. 'You need to deliver for people what they need in order to then have the legitimacy to push forward on longer term changes.' The prime minister was feeling buoyant as he flew back from a successful six-day tour of China, where he balanced tensions over Chinese military build-up and a mutual desire to strengthen economic ties. Amid coalition criticism that he had failed to deliver enough tangible outcomes, Mr Albanese hit back that they didn't understand how patiently nurturing the relationship would pay dividends in the long-term. Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor's clumsy comments that Australia should be 'prepared to act' alongside the US in conflict with China over Taiwan broke with the bipartisan 'One China' policy in support of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Mr Albanese said. His eye is on a Labor dynasty to carve out a positive future for Australia in a challenging region. 'One of the things we're very determined to do is to have long-term Labor government in Australia so that we can implement the long-term changes that Australia needs. 'The world is changing fast and you can either shape that change or it will shape you.'
