The Victorian Government will push ahead with sweeping changes to the state’s early childhood education sector following a scathing review into child safety, prompted by revelations of sexual abuse by a Melbourne childcare worker.
Premier Jacinta Allan delivered an emotional statement as the review findings were released, pledging to “act urgently to implement every single recommendation as quickly as possible.”
“Nothing is more important to me than protecting our children,” she said. “This sickens me not just as a Premier, but as a mum.”
The crisis was sparked when allegations against Joshua Dale Brown became public in early July. Brown, who worked across several childcare centres between 2017 and 2025, was charged with sexually abusing eight children, all under the age of two. A suppression order on his case was lifted on 1 July, revealing the full extent of the allegations. Around 2,600 families were contacted by authorities, and more than 1,200 children were recommended for health screening.
“These shocking allegations have exposed a system that simply isn’t working,” Allan said. “Parents must be able to drop their children off at childcare, knowing they will be encouraged to play and learn—trusting they will be safe. That trust has been horribly broken.”
The review, led by former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and senior bureaucrat Pamela White, found that Victoria’s fragmented childcare regulation system had allowed safety concerns to slip through the cracks. Key gaps included poor information-sharing between agencies, legal constraints that favoured educator privacy over child protection, and a market-driven model that encouraged casual hiring and high staff turnover.
“There were breadcrumbs of behaviour that should have raised concern but weren’t followed up,” the report found.
One of its sharpest criticisms was directed at the Working with Children Check (WWCC) system, which it said relied too heavily on past criminal history, ignoring emerging patterns of concerning conduct. The report called for the power to suspend WWCCs based on credible allegations—not just formal convictions—and urged the creation of a national register of childcare workers.
The Allan Government responded within hours of receiving the report, announcing that it would adopt all 22 recommendations. Key actions include:
- Establishing an independent Victorian childcare safety regulator
- Doubling the number of on-the-spot inspections at centres
- Overhauling WWCCs to allow for immediate suspension powers
- Banning personal devices in childcare rooms
- Accelerating mandatory child safety training for all staff
“Victoria will create a new regulator with real teeth, setting out the strictest safety rules,” Allan said. “We will more than double the number of on-the-spot inspections at childcare centres, making sure these principles are being practised on the ground.”
Legislation to support the overhaul will be introduced to Parliament next week.
The review made clear, however, that state-level reforms alone won’t solve the problem. “The actions of Victoria alone will not fix the quality and safety issues in early childhood education and care,” Allan acknowledged. “We will keep working with the Federal Government to deliver the national reforms families expect and deserve.”
This latest crisis draws echoes from previous national inquiries into child protection, including the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and a more recent Tasmanian inquiry in 2021. Both reports called for better vetting and information sharing, warning that regulatory blind spots were leaving children exposed.
According to a 2023 report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, one in five childcare workers have faced allegations of misconduct. Critics argue this makes a compelling case for overhauling how workers are screened and monitored.
Despite the urgency of the government’s response, Allan has faced pointed criticism from political opponents and on social media. Detractors accuse her of neglecting the issue during her time as Deputy Premier, pointing instead to infrastructure projects like the Suburban Rail Loop. Others have linked her administration’s social policies to wider community discontent, though many of those claims lack direct evidence.
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