“What parents are comprehending at the moment right across the state is not what any parent should have to go through when they are dropping their kids off to a place where they need to know that their kids are safe.”
He said the government was working on including early childhood education in the first stage of the state’s new reportable conduct scheme, and said Queensland’s blue card system of working with children checks needed strengthening.
Investigations by the Bayside Child Protection Investigation Unit remain ongoing.
Police would not provide further information, saying the matter was before the courts.
The allegations are the latest in what is being described as a “crisis” in early education centres across the country, after 26-year-old Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with abusing children this month.
Brown worked at more than 24 childcare centres over his eight-year career as an early educator, including centres owned by the for-profit childcare giants Affinity Education and G8, both based in Queensland.
The allegations against Brown follow the case of Brisbane man Ashley Paul Griffith, who was jailed last year after committing hundreds of sex offences against children over the course of his childcare career in Queensland and New South Wales.
Childcare centres across the country – including those owned by Affinity Education – have promised to improve child safety and restore faith in the sector.
Affinity said it would fast-track installation of CCTV cameras across its more than 250 centres “to enhance supervision and safety” and allow “parental preference regarding who assists their child with toileting or nappy changes”.
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