Victoria’s premier has said childcare regulations have “not worked” and vowed the state’s register of childcare workers will be established within weeks, after revelations that alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was sacked from multiple centres.
Jacinta Allan on Monday said there was a need to strengthen both state and federal regulations governing the sector.
“There has clearly been systems that have not worked,” she said.
Wallaby childcare became the latest centre to confirm it had terminated Brown’s employment during his probation period after he worked at its Sanctuary Lakes centre for five weeks between April and May 2021, with a spokesperson citing that he “did not align with our company standards or values”.
It comes after Nido Early School last week said it had sacked Brown after just 18 days at its Werribee centre in July 2021, after he allegedly breached the company’s internal policies around the handling of incident reports.
There is no allegation that Brown offended against children while working for Wallaby or Nido.
D.O.T.S Occupational Therapy for Children in Footscray also sacked Brown after 26 days working with its non-clinical admin team in March 2024 because “he was not a good fit”, its program director confirmed earlier this month.
Meanwhile, allegations that Brown “forcibly” grabbed children while working for major childcare provider, G8 Education, were reported to Victoria Police, the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) and the education department in 2023 and 2024.
But the agencies referred the matter back to G8 Education for internal investigation and disciplinary action. The company substantiated both allegations.
Typically, such finding would trigger a working with children check review but the ABC on Saturday reported the CCYP used discretionary powers not to escalate Brown’s case, allowing him to continue working in childcare.
Allan refused to comment on the specifics of Brown’s case or the “decision taken by the independent regulator”. But she said working with children’s checks would be included in the review into the childcare sector, led by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and senior bureaucrat Pamela White.
The premier also confirmed a state-based childcare worker register, announced after Brown’s charges became public earlier this month, would be established by the end of August. It will eventually be absorbed into a national register, which federal education minister, Jason Clare, committed to last week.
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“This is just a common sense measure. Yes, it should have been in place already … it’s been a discussion for some time now at a national, federal-state ministers level,” Allan said.
“We’re acting to bring this about immediately … and there is more work that needs to be done. There are systems that need to be strengthened. I absolutely acknowledge that.”
She also reiterated the government would accept all recommendations of the Weatherill and White review, due back on 15 August.
“I want to be clear that if there is more action to be taken to keep children safe, then we will absolutely take it,” Allan said.
Brown, 26, was charged in May with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims aged between five months and two years old. His case was only made public on 1 July after a suppression order was lifted. The criminal case is in its early stages and he has yet to enter a plea.
Since then, police have established Brown worked at 23 childcare centres and the occupational therapy service and urged more than 2,000 children be tested for sexually transmitted infections.
Police have said establishing Brown’s complete work history had been “extremely complex” as childcare providers do not have centralised records. They warned “further updates are likely in the coming weeks”.
