Full scale of Joshua Brown’s alleged sex offending is laid bare as new details emerge – as male workers are banned from changing nappies
The number of childcare centres in Victoria where alleged paedophile Joshua Brown was employed is set to grow in the following week.
The 26-year-old has been charged with more than 70 child sex offences including the sexual penetration of a child and producing child abuse material.
He is also charged with recklessly contaminate goods to cause alarm or anxiety, which is understood to refer to the alleged contamination of food with bodily fluids.
It was revealed on Friday that there is a new, full list of times and places where Brown worked which is due to be released in the coming days, The Age reported.
The latest blow comes as families were rocked on Tuesday by an urgent warning from the Victorian Department of Health and Victoria Police for parents of 1,200 children to have them tested for infectious diseases.
It has since been suggested the advised tests were for gonorrhea and chlamydia. It was later suggested parents also have their children tested for syphilis.
Brown’s is accused of abusing eight children between the ages of two-months-old and five-years-old at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre Point Cook, where he worked between October 2021 and February 2024.
Authorities said the Melbourne childcare worker also worked at more than a dozen other centres across the city between 2017 and 2025.
The list of childcare centres where 26-year-old Joshua Brown (pictured) worked could grow in the coming days after a new, full list is completed by authorities
Brown is accused of abusing eight children between the ages of two-months-old and five-years-old at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre Point Cook (pictured), where he worked between October 2021 and February 2024
Distressed parents have been contacted by the Department of Health and Victoria Police if it is advised they have their children tested for STIs including gonorrhea (the message is pictured)
Affinity Education, the national childcare company which employed Brown in at least nine of its centres, provided The Age with a letter from chief executive Tim Hickey.
‘The individual was employed as a permanent part-time educator in August 2024 for a newly built centre which opened in November,’ he said.
‘During that period, they worked or trained across other centres in the network or where the support was needed.
‘While this is a common operational practice in the sector, we are now reviewing how these movements are managed through a stronger child safety lens.’
Meanwhile provider Inspire Early Learning Journey sent a letter to parents on Friday announcing it had adjusted policies about what male staff would be allowed to do.
Chief curriculum and quality officer Eleinna Anderson said they will not be changing nappies or carrying out ‘toileting duties’, the Herald Sun reported.
She maintained they will still play a ‘vital role’ and help with activities, classroom preparation and cleaning.
The provider’s staff must refrain from unnecessary physical contact with children including kissing. If offering emotional supporter, they need the child’s consent to hug them or hold their hands.
The provider Inspire Early Learning Journey has banned male staff from changing children’s nappies after news broke of Brown’s alleged behaviour (Joshua Brown is pictured)
The national provider Affinity Education addressed Brown’s work at nine of their centres, explaining why he worked at multiple locations in a letter to parents (pictured)
Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed on Friday that at least 30 families have already approached a high-profile law firm in Victoria to seek compensation over the alleged actions of Brown while their children were under his care.
Arnold Thomas and Becker Lawyers have confirmed they were contacted by a string of families about potential legal action.
Some parents have already approached the media to discuss the horror their families have been through.
A Werribee father who spoke out on Thursday, described how his seven-year-old daughter begged medical staff to stop as they administered an STI test.
‘My daughter was saying “Daddy, this is really hurting me, make the lady stop”,’ he told the Herald Sun.
‘You could visibly see the pathologist was upset, the receptionists were upset, the doctor was upset. Because they’re all parents. It’s affected everyone.’
All the parents involved have to wait an unknown amount of time to discover whether their children have any STIs.
‘It’s every bit as bad as you think it’s going to be. Every time my phone rings… I get anxiety, every time it rings. It’s constantly attached to my hand as we’re waiting for that phone call,’ he said.
Brown has remained in custody since his arrest in mid-May
Health authorities had to contact more than 2,600 families after Brown was taken into custody in mid-May, where he remains.
His Point Cook home was raided by police shortly after an investigation was launched earlier that same month.
Police have said he was not known to them before his arrest and he had a valid Working With Children Check, which has since been cancelled.
He will next appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 15.
Police discovered evidence of the alleged horrific offending by the childcare worker while investigating 36-year-old Michael Simon Wilson.
Wilson, from Hoppers Crossing, was charged with 45 child sex offences on Wednesday, including bestiality, rape and possession of child abuse material, according to court documents.
It is understood Brown and Wilson are known to each other, but Wilson’s charges are not linked to any childcare centre and involve different alleged victims.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
