childcare pedophile Joshua Brown<\/a> with dozens of alleged child sex offences, the government had launched a rapid child safety review, and its findings were released \u2013 calling for a sweeping overhaul to Victoria\u2019s childcare regime. <\/p>\nAnother eight months of silence followed, until an email from the newly established Victorian Early Childhood Regulator Authority (VECRA) landed just after 5pm on April 7 this year. <\/p>\n
The VECRA, established in January, was a direct outcome of the Victorian Government\u2019s Rapid Child Safety Review, tasked with independently managing compliance across all childcare centres.<\/p>\n
Its FOI manager apologised for the 13-month delay, before acknowledging the two documents attached: a formal decision letter and the long-awaited data.<\/p>\n
Eager to finally view the list of centres where incidents had occurred, the document containing the data table was opened first.<\/p>\n
But it only revealed an even greater disappointment \u2013 the names of every single childcare centre associated with an incident were entirely redacted.<\/p>\n
Have a story? Get in touch \u2013 rebecca.borg@news.com.au<\/p>\n
\u2018An unreasonable diversion of resources\u2019<\/p>\n
Across the fourteen pages of incidents, not one childcare centre was identified, despite the request specifically asking for \u201cthe names\u201d of every provider where an incident had occurred. <\/p>\n
Section 47G (1)(a) \u2013 also known as \u201cpublic interest conditional exemptions \u2013 business\u201d \u2013 of the FOI Act had been applied as the documents contained information that may affect the reputation or profitability of third-party businesses. <\/p>\n
Adding insult to injury, the VECRA claimed the sheer administrative burden of consulting with over 700 businesses, addressing their queries, and navigating potential review rights would be an \u201cunreasonable diversion of resources.\u201d <\/p>\n
As VECRA\u2019s decision letter stated: \u201cGiven the Department\u2019s other requests on hand and the time it would take to consult with over 700 businesses \u2026 it was deemed to be an unreasonable diversion of resources. As such this document is denied in part.\u201d<\/p>\n
News.com.au contacted the VECRA disputing the response.<\/p>\n
A VECRA spokeswoman told news.com.au it \u201csupports and takes transparency very seriously\u201d and that it strived to uphold public trust in its regulatory role \u201cthrough acting honestly and with integrity at all times\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as we expect early childhood services to act in line with the law, we have to do so when considering requests under FOI legislation including third party review rights,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere permissible, VECRA will always release the maximum amount of information allowable under law. However, there are times when we are unable to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Answers at last <\/p>\n
The Authority decided to come to a compromise by opting to share the top 10 organisations with the most incidents recorded.<\/p>\n
That data finally arrived two months later, and news.com.au can now unveil Goodstart Early Learning Ltd as the operator with the most incidents recorded in 2024. <\/p>\n
The not-for-profit provider, which had 175 centres across the state at the time, recorded a total of 290 serious incidents in 2024.<\/p>\n
This was followed by 242 incidents across G8 Education Limited\u2019s 115 centres \u2013 one of the companies that recruited Joshua Brown before he was arrested and charged with dozens of alleged sex crimes.<\/p>\n
While these providers accounted for the highest total number of reported incidents, their substantial number of centres resulted in comparatively low averages per facility. <\/p>\n
Guardian Community Early Learning Centres Pty Ltd was at the centre of 221 incidents that year, while Affinity Education Group \u2013 another one of Brown\u2019s former employers \u2013 recorded 159. <\/p>\n
Think Childcare, which largely manages the Nido Early School brand, was next in line with 105 incidents, while Only About Children Pty Ltd, Nest Early Education Services, Baker Street Childcare, Story House Learning, Early Childhood Management Services and Victorian YMCA Community Programming all followed with incident figures ranging from 58 to 97. <\/p>\n
Goodstart \u2018not surprised\u2019 <\/p>\n
Goodstart Early Learning was not surprised its number of incidents landed the provider at the top of the list.<\/p>\n
Rather, a spokeswoman for the operator said it was exactly \u201chow we want it\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at incidents at its simplest \u2013 we\u2019re the largest ECEC provider in the state \u2013 and we\u2019ve worked really hard to build a strong reporting culture,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur safeguarding framework is actually called \u201cLook! Do! Tell!\u201d, so the number of reports we make will put us at the top of your list, and that\u2019s just how we want it. Lots of reporting means lots of eyes on children and behaviours.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the provider does have the highest number of serious incidents, its average number of incidents across its 175 centres places it at the lower end of the scale, reflecting Goodstart\u2019s commitment to a strong child safe culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodstart benchmarks our performance against sector averages and we are well below the sector rates of both serious incidents and breaches,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodstart embeds child safety into everything from how we create our learning environments to how we recruit, train and supervise our people \u2013 we go beyond compliance, but we know we must remain vigilant and continue to look for areas of improvement.\u201d <\/p>\n
G8 Education acknowledges increase<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, G8 Education acknowledged its rate of reported serious incidents per 100 approved services had climbed from 148 in 2023\/24 to 160 the following financial year.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson cited that, like many services across the sector, it was grappling with the \u201clikely \u2018over\u2019 and \u2018under\u2019 reporting of serious incidents\u201d and was investing in enhanced training and safety leaders to improve child safety across its centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerious incidents can arise for various reasons, including when a child becomes ill or injured, and in rare cases, situations where a child has an allergic reaction, is unaccounted for or if concerns are raised about an educator\u2019s conduct,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cG8 Education has a strong reporting culture and an unwavering commitment to child safety. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery child deserves to be safe, supported, and appropriately supervised at all times, and families must be able to trust that their children are cared for in environments where safety is non-negotiable.\u201d <\/p>\n
YMCA results reflection of staff doing their job<\/p>\n
A YMCA Victoria spokesperson said the majority of incidents at its centres were a result of \u201cfalls during normal outdoor play\u201d, with the remainder relating to illness and medical events including suspected allergic reactions and children putting small objects such as a pompom up their nose.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo child was missing from a YMCA early learning service, no child left our licensed premises, and none of the reported incidents resulted in findings of gross misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStrong reporting doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re seeing more incidents. It means our educators are paying attention and documenting, reviewing and responding to anything that affects a child\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our YMCA early learning centres meet Australia\u2019s National Quality Standard. More than half are rated Exceeding National Quality Standard, with the remainder rated Meeting National Quality Standard. <\/p>\n
No YMCA Victoria early learning service is rated Working Towards National Quality Standard.<\/p>\n
ECMS chief says incident reports are important<\/p>\n
Similar to YMCA, Early Childhood Management Services Inc Interim Chief Executive Caroline Elliott told news.com.au approximately 74 per cent of ECMS\u2019s serious incident reports were primarily accidental or play-related injuries, medical or illness events or child-to-child interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccidental and play-related injuries accounted for almost two-thirds of these incidents. Approximately 10 per cent of notifications related primarily to supervision, absconding or access matters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no recorded regulatory noncompliances for ECMS arising from these matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cECMS has a strong reporting culture. Our policies require, and we expect, our people to identify, escalate and report incidents and concerns in accordance with regulatory requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAppropriate reporting is an important part of a strong child safeguarding system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Child safety front of mind at Affinity<\/p>\n
An Affinity Education Group spokeswoman said it has continued to strengthen its processes following reforms made to the state\u2019s early education sector. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe note these historical incidents referenced relate to 2024, since which time the early childhood sector has been subject to significant scrutiny and reform,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have continued to strengthen our processes, oversight and practices, with child safety foremost in mind. Today, around 90 per cent of Affinity centres are rated at Meeting or Exceeding NQS.\u201d <\/p>\n
Busy Bees opens up about incidents at its centres<\/p>\n
Busy Bees, which operates Baker Street Childcare Education, recorded 63 incidents across its 17 centres, with the provider identifying eight notifications it said could have been prevented.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on our internal records, 43 notifications related to sickness or injury. Seven notifications involved circumstances where a child was temporarily unaccounted for within the centre premises,\u201d a Busy Bees spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe remaining notifications related to the attendance of emergency services, which is reportable regardless of circumstance. Three involved medical incidents involving children. Others involved a range of matters including a public disturbance in a centre carpark, and non-critical fire alerts caused by outdoor environmental smoke, burnt food or unknown faults affecting a fire panel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said its dedicated safety and safeguarding team has since doubled to support<\/p>\n
spot-checks, centre auditing and spot training for child-safe practices. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have added a former child protection detective to our team to complete arms-length and thorough investigation of any potential risks or incidents,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
All childcare providers who responded to news.com.au\u2019s request for comment said a reportable incident does not always mean a service was at fault, with some reflecting the \u201ceveryday realities of caring for young children\u201d, according to a YMCA Victoria spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Guardian Community Early Learning, Think Childcare Services, Only About Children, Nest Early Education and Story House Early Learning were all contacted for comment. <\/p>\n
Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, the Victorian government chose to protect the reputations of failing childcare businesses over transparency about 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