Accused paedophile was subject of two complaints before his arrest over alleged child sex abuse

Brown was suspended from work after G8 was notified about the conduct, pending the completion of the probe into his behaviour.

The 26-year-old resigned before the investigation was complete, but G8 said it had again substantiated the allegations against Brown, providing the final report to the Department of Education and CCYP.

Police were notified about Brown’s conduct both times, but referred the complaint back to G8 for an internal investigation and disciplinary action.

A spokesman for Victoria Police said investigators were “looking carefully” at Brown’s employment history and any complaints made about his behaviour.

Loading

“We have made progress on this and continue to encourage parents or staff to contact Crimestoppers if they are aware of any formal or informal complaints that have been made to the childcare centres or police,” he said.

Meena Singh, Victoria’s acting Commissioner for Children and Young People, declined to comment directly on complaints made against Brown for fear of prejudicing ongoing investigations.

But she said that childcare centres are subject to the reportable conduct scheme and must notify her office about any allegations of abuse and investigate them.

The reportable conduct scheme covers a wide range of alleged child-related misconduct, including physical violence, neglect, psychological harm and sexual offences.

Findings from investigations into questionable conduct by workers must be reported back to the commissioner, and police must be notified if there are allegations of criminal conduct.

Singh said if an organisation substantiates a claim that a worker or volunteer has committed reportable conduct, her office must notify the Department of Government Services to review the person’s working with children check.

“However, legislation allows for a referral not to be made, for example, where the nature and degree of the reportable conduct would be better addressed through training or supervision,” she said.

Okhovat said that child protection was G8’s number-one priority and allegations regarding child safety are taken “extremely seriously”.

“All families who were impacted by the allegations were informed of the investigations and their outcomes,” he said. “The situation highlighted by these incidents is why we continue to strongly advocate for the need for national harmonisation of policies, regulations, systems and processes across governments and regulators across Australia.”

Both G8 and private equity-owned Affinity Education, where Brown was also employed, confirmed this week they would roll out CCTV at their childcare centres after Brown’s alleged conduct came to light.

Emergency Services Minister Vicki Ward, speaking on behalf of the Allan government on Sunday, was asked about the two substantiated reports of aggressive behaviour and why Brown’s working with children’s check wasn’t revoked at the time.

Ward declined to comment specifically on those reports of aggressive behaviour, saying she didn’t want to jeopardise current police work.

However, the minister insisted that Premier Jacinta Allan had acted quickly once the child sexual abuse allegations were known.

“I know that everybody in this state his horrified by these allegations,” Ward said. “We do need to let Victoria Police absolutely, thoroughly, go and do this investigation.”

Ward added that the children’s commissioner would continue to receive ongoing funding. However, she would not say if that funding would be increased so that the watchdog could thoroughly investigate more than the most serious cases.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.