Victoria's children's commissioner has conceded "no-one" is overseeing key decisions of her office after revelations it failed to act on red flags raised about accused child abuser Joshua Brown.
The ABC revealed on Saturday that the Commission for Children and Young People was aware Mr Brown's employer had investigated and substantiated two complaints that he was aggressive towards children in the two years before his arrest.
The finding would typically trigger a Working with Children Check review but the commission used discretionary powers not to escalate his case, clearing the way for him to continue working with children.In an exclusive interview with the ABC, the commission's Acting Principal Commissioner Meena Singh refused to say whether it was the wrong decision, pointing to laws that prevented her from speaking about specific cases.
"I'm not commenting on whether it is the wrong decision," Ms Singh said.
"It was a decision that was allowed under the discretion of our legislation and our decisions should be scrutinised."
Ms Singh said the decision was ultimately made by the children's commissioner at that time, Liana Buchanan.
Asked directly who oversaw the commission's use of its discretionary powers, Ms Singh conceded: "No-one."
The commission is now reviewing similar cases where it used its discretionary powers not to refer substantiated findings for a Working with Children Check review.
But its actions in Mr Brown's case will not be scrutinised as part of a "rapid review" of safety in childcare — the state government excluding the operation of the regulators from its terms of reference.
"We will be reviewing our work," Ms Singh said.
"We also welcome any other scrutiny that the government might feel appropriate."
More information sharing needed
Mr Brown, 26, has been charged with 70 offences, including sexual assault, related to eight children at Point Cook's Creative Garden childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023.
Authorities took the rare step of publicly identifying him and listing the 24 centres where he worked, as they called for 2,000 children to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
The ABC has been examining Mr Brown's work history, uncovering a series of red flags that have raised questions about how he was able to move from centre to centre.
He was sacked from Nido Early Learning in 2021 over his handling of an incident report, three months before he started work at Creative Garden, the centre where he is alleged to have abused children.
The operator of Creative Garden, G8, notified authorities of two "reportable allegations" about Mr Brown's conduct, finding he "aggressively" picked up a child in 2023 and "forcibly" handled two others in a separate incident the following year.
Both reports came after Mr Brown's alleged sexual offending but more than two years before he was arrested.
He resigned during the second investigation but, with no review of his Working with Children Check, went on to work at 13 other centres.
The ABC understands only the worker, childcare operator and family at the centre of an investigation are informed of the outcome, leaving future employers in the dark about previous allegations.
"I'd like to see organisations be able to access the information that they need to be able to determine whether someone is not only eligible to work with children and young people … but also whether they're suitable," Ms Singh said.
"Sometimes that information isn't readily available for organisations."
Commission 'compromised' due to lack of funding
The commission's handling of Mr Brown's case has brought into focus its operation of the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
Through the scheme, the commission oversees how organisations such as childcare centres respond to and investigate allegations of sexual or physical misconduct involving a child.
Victoria has recorded a sharp rise in the number of notifications to the scheme — up 30 per cent in the year to 2023-24, and 136 per cent since it began seven years earlier.
But Ms Singh said government funding to operate the scheme had not increased.
The ABC understands the commission has previously lobbied for more funding but has been knocked back.
"I think we're compromised in delivering the Reportable Conduct Scheme to its fullest benefits," Ms Singh said.
"Sometimes we're not able to pick up on or dive deeper into those lower-level things that you might find that could indicate a potential pattern of behaviour or potential types of behaviour that indicate certain other things," she said.
"I'm not saying this to make excuses but there's a lot that we see that we wish we could do more with."The government did not respond to the ABC's questions about whether it would increase the commission's funding, or whether it would give the commission more powers to share details of investigations or findings with childcare operators.
"Victorian families must be able to trust that their children are safe in childcare and we will do everything in our power to make sure they can," a government spokesperson said.
Liana Buchanan also declined to comment.
