Latest news with #LauraJaneSingh
News.com.au
28-07-2025
- News.com.au
‘Needs to change': Thousands support Speak Up for Kids campaign after childcare abuse exposed
Thousands of Aussies are jumping on board a new petition demanding an urgent safety overhaul to our early childcare industry, after exposed yet another alarming case of widescale sexual abuse within a family day care service. This morning exclusively revealed the horrifying case of David Neil Tuck: a family day care owner who is suspected of sexually abusing up to 55 children in Batemans Bay alone. Tuck had already been charged with 10 counts of child sexual abuse in NSW when Eurobodalla Shire Council licenced him to operate a family day care service run out of his remote property on Bluemoor road in Batemans Bay. Tuck, who also operated two other childcare facilities in the region, was able to continue running his licensed service despite multiple additional children coming forward to authorities with complaints of sexual abuse at his centres. Laura-Jane Singh (LJ) and Hailey* were just seven and five years old when they were first sexually abused by Tuck at his overnight child care centre. The women, who have tracked down around 30 other survivors of Tuck, are now using their experience as a platform to push for national reform to Australia's Working With Children Check scheme. More than 5000 people have already jumped on board to sign their petition, which launched just a few hours ago. 'What could be more important than protecting our children?' wrote one signee named Tarek. 'Stop protecting child predators. We need to do everything possible to keep our kids safe. This isn't just for people who have kids, we were all kids once. Give every child a voice, and sign now.' 'What are our politicians doing here? Working with Children Checks are totally useless and a joke,' wrote Valerie. 'This needs to be changed now. We know there's a problem, there's no excuse to leave it any longer,' added Sarah. According to the petition, more than one million Australian families currently have at least one child attending a registered childcare service. And alarmingly, every day there is at least one report of sexual misconduct coming out of a child care facility in this country. 'The children who are impacted are far too young to speak. As adults, we must use our voices to demand their safety,' reads the petition. The campaign is titled Speak Up for Kids and is calling for an overhaul to Australia's widely derided Working With Children Check (WWWC) scheme. The campaign has the backing of experts, advocates, academics, and survivors. One issue of concern is that each state and territory has an entirely different WWCC scheme with its own legislation, operating system, eligibility criteria, and administrative processes. According to the petition, this creates 'inconsistency, confusion and loopholes which offenders can easily exploit'. The fragmented approach also leads to poor information sharing between the various states and territories and offenders who move between jurisdictions can then easily evade detection. Another concern is that once a WWCC is issued, it is valid for five years with no interim monitoring. As a result, families can be lulled into a false sense of security, particularly since complaints that don't result in criminal charges may not necessarily be enough to trigger the high threshold for action. Currently more than 5.8 million people in Australia hold a valid WWCC and no training or exam is required to get one. 'Children need to be protected from these mongrel predators, it's abhorrent what they do to the kids let alone the psychological damage they cause,' wrote Colin who signed the petition. 'Why isn't there a national database for convicted offenders? Each state doesn't talk to each other and an offender can be convicted in Queensland and then move to NSW and their offence will not follow them. This is ludicrous,' added another signee, Kerry. 'Our youngest and most vulnerable voices in society need to be heard RIGHT NOW! To the lawmakers and lawbreakers, how can you sleep at night knowing that your actions and inaction have destroyed innocent lives? Enough is enough!' wrote one individual who signed off 'L'. The petition is calling for a suite of reforms including national harmonisation of legislation and standards across all jurisdictions; the establishment of a centralised WWCC database to facilitate cross-border information sharing; a one strike policy for breaches; increased monitoring of WWCC holders; and finally a $2 million government investment to develop mandatory training which would then become a compulsory component for all WWCC holders. 'Do this now. My next vote depends on it,' wrote Jason. 'I 100 per cent support the petition,' added Peter. 'It chills me to the bone that this could happen in our society. Let's get these monsters away from our children.' 'How on earth we are not already doing absolutely everything to protect our children,' added Alan. LJ and Hailey have been incredibly moved with the response so far and hope more people continue to join the fight. The women, who are now both mothers, say they are speaking out on behalf of all children - including the little girls they once were. 'As children we were defenceless. We did not have the language and we were too young to understand - let alone speak out about - the sexual abuse we were experiencing in childcare,' wrote the women. 'Now we are raising our voices for all those children who can't. We were not safe. But we hope that your children will be. 'Australia, please sign this urgent petition. All children deserve safety. The time for action is now.' Nina Funnell is a Walkley award winning journalist who specialises in reporting sexual violence. She is the creator of the Speak Up for Kids campaign.
News.com.au
27-07-2025
- News.com.au
Every adult in Australia must sign this petition right now
Right now, thousands of families are reeling in horror following media report after report of sexual abuse and molestation allegations coming out of daycare centres across our early childcare industry. There isn't an Australian state or territory which has not been impacted by this issue and in some cases we are reading reports of single offenders being accused of abusing over 50 children, all while masquerading as well-meaning early childcare professionals. As a parent of a four-year-old in childcare, it chills me to the bone. But there is one voice, which – until today – has been virtually absent from this public conversation: the voice of children themselves. It will be years before we ever hear from the children who are alleged to have been victimised by men who were supposed to be caring for them, like Ashley Paul Griffith. It will be years before they are old enough to waive their right to anonymity. Years before they can make sense of what has happened to them. And years before we will ever learn their perspectives and valuable insights into how predators might operate, and what we can do to both spot them and stop them. And we don't have years. This is a problem we needed to fix yesterday. Which is why today's reporting featuring Laura-Jane Singh (LJ) and Hailey* is so important. Both of these incredible women have endured unspeakable evil. And both have courageously waived their right to anonymity to speak out and provide us with those critical insights and lessons – at tremendous personal cost – because they don't want to waste another day. Both women are mothers too. And they have each spent more than 25 years being silenced. But no more. Hailey and LJ want change and now they are calling on you – on every adult in Australia – to sign the petition demanding an overhaul to safety standards in our early child care industry. After all, as a community we cannot put it on the shoulders of children who are too young to even tie their own shoelaces to lead this change. As adults it is our responsibility to speak up, and sign on behalf of those who cannot. As a parent myself, I'll never forget the first day I dropped my young son off at daycare and left him. He was less than two years old, and as I heard the gate shut and him wailing for me, my heart broke. It's an act of trust parents and carers make every day when we drop our kids off, and while it does get easier, the blind leap of faith involved is always tremendous. What made that first day of childcare so much more difficult – and memorable – for me is that it was also my first day back at work following an extended maternity leave. And on that first day back I happened to be interviewing parents of two girls who had been sexually abused in a family day care setting. I've never forgotten a moment of how that day unfolded. Nor the advice the father gave me, parent-to-parent, during the breaks. He said: 'As a parent always be unpredictable, turn up at times they are not expecting you. Change your routine. Don't become set in your pattern.' He also told me that listening to my child means more than just listening to my child's words. One thing I've learnt having spent almost two decades reporting sexual abuse is that abused children will often tell us, but they wont necessarily tell us in ways which adults automatically recognise as a disclosure. After all, as adults we understand the gravity and seriousness of sexual assault and we have the language to discuss it. But as survivor Hailey asks us today: 'How are children supposed to report sexual abuse if they don't yet speak, or if no one has offered them the language to describe what's going on?' Another thing I've noted across my career is that because adults have strategies for discussing very serious concerns, we often make the mistake of subconsciously assuming that children will mirror those same strategies if they have something serious to say to us. So for example, a parent might subconsciously assume that a child would wait for a calm quiet moment after dinner, when no other distractions were present, to sit the parent down and methodically lay out the problem using specific examples and detail. But that is often not the case. As Hailey explains: 'I remember being pulled from the car screaming to go there, and I think that's what people need to understand: children might tell you but they're going to tell you the only way they know how. 'When the abuse first started I didn't even have a word for abuse or sex. I didn't have those words, but … there were other signs, bed wetting at ages where it's beyond a regular occurrence and withdrawal from school, withdrawal from friends.' Hailey also says that children pick their moment to disclose based on factors like when they feel bold enough to speak – which may or may not happen to coincide with a calm, quiet moment in their parent's life. I've heard many stories where a child attempts to disclose but is tragically shut down: one child chose the moment her mum was straining boiling pasta to try to disclose. Another found that spark of courage during the stress and chaos of the morning rush out the front door. Another child, who was nine, thought she had disclosed about the sexual abuse she was experiencing from her male babysitter, when she told her parents: 'I don't like him and I don't ever want him to come over again.' For her, that was the strongest language in her vocabulary. And many of us will remember the heartbreaking story of five-year-old Rose Milthorpe who was being sexually abused by an adult family friend. One day, after returning from a playdate at her abuser's home, Rose pulled off her superhero cape, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. When her parents asked her what was wrong, she revealed she was angry because her superhero cape was meant to keep her invisible, but that 'it didn't work'. This is how children tell us. And it is our job to listen. And more than that, it is our job to act. Because it is not appropriate to put it on children to have to advocate for change. It's not acceptable for us to put it on their tiny shoulders to push for the safety that should have been theirs to begin with. It is our responsibility to stand up, and stand with Hailey, LJ, Rose and every child who has ever been sexually abused. It is our job to make the next generation safe.
