G8 Education has been advised that further criminal charges have been laid against former employee Joshua Dale Brown.

These charges are in connection with his employment at three non-G8 Education centres. Some of the additional charges also relate to his employment at Creative Garden Point Cook.

G8 Education CEO and Managing Director Pejman Okhovat said he is horrified by the distressing nature of the new charges and is working closely to support families and team members at this difficult time.

“The safety and wellbeing of children is our highest priority, and any behaviour that compromises this is completely unacceptable. We are focused on supporting our families and team members,” he said.

“Our thoughts remain with the families and communities impacted as we continue to work closely with Victoria Police and the Victorian Government as part of their ongoing investigations and we will continue to do everything we can to give authorities the best chance of achieving justice for the children and families involved.

“We welcome the recent and ongoing inquiries into the early childhood education and care sector and the regulatory reforms introduced. These changes are critical to strengthening child safety across the sector.

“G8 Education has zero tolerance for any behaviour that puts children at risk. We will continue to advocate for stronger safeguards and reforms to ensure every child in early learning environments is safe, supported, and protected. This is not just our responsibility, it is our unwavering commitment.”

Safety, First and Always

G8 Education is committed to its value of putting safety first and always and does not tolerate any behaviour that compromises the safety or wellbeing of children.

As announced previously, the following child-safe policies and procedures are already in place in all G8 Education centres, including:

• Prohibiting personal devices in rooms in centres;
• Delivering thorough and ongoing education and training with centre teams, including in respect of Child Safety and Child Safeguarding;
• Providing physical and online environments promote child safety and wellbeing, including investment in cyber security measures;
• We are committed to undertaking all required team member reference and background checks are performed, including confirming valid Working with Children Checks (WWCC) and state-specific teacher registration;
• All team members are designated Mandatory Reporters and are legally required to report any disclosure, concern or reasonable suspicion that a child is experiencing harm or at risk of harm;
• Actively encouraging confidential and anonymous reporting of any concerns related to reportable conduct, in accordance with our Whistleblower Policy.

Our Commitment to Being the Difference – Additional Actions G8 Education is Taking

G8 Education is committed to continuous improvement and is taking the following actions:

• Invested in enhanced training for all our educations and teachers, particularly around safe sleep, supervision, and mandatory reporting obligations. 
• Elevated the role of child champion as safety leaders to be a part of the centre leadership team, with structured training and a focus on child safety.
• An important part of child safeguarding is ensuring that children have a voice and are supported in their understanding of body safety.  We have already implemented body safety programs in our curriculum.  We are also working with Act for Kids, to provide Protective Behaviours Training for children, educator training modules, a community of practice for our team, coaching and other resources.
• Introduced individual learning plans. These plans are created collaboratively with educations and teachers, the student, and their family, and include personalised strategies to help the student succeed academically and socially.
• Accelerated our organisation-wide rollout of CCTV, prioritising high-movement and shared spaces to strengthen visibility and supervision. We know that while CCTV is not a silver bullet, it is a modern, practical safeguard that strengthens the layered protections we already have in place.

Broader Sector Reforms Needed – What We Continue to Advocate For

G8 Education is working with all levels of Government across Australia to further consider what more can be done to better protect children. We continue to advocate for:

• A national registry for working with vulnerable people, including working with children, NDIS and aged care, with higher thresholds;
• National Teachers registration and a national Educators registration;
• A national register of early childhood workers’ employment history;
• Alignment of all State regulations regarding child safety and protection, ensuring national consistency;
• Delivery of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations, particularly initiatives relating to improving quality, workforce, and child safety and protection.