Excerpts
Socially responsible superannuation and managed funds that invested in a childcare operator where children were alleged to have been sexually abused have demanded the company respond to concerns over their child welfare and employee screening processes.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, who has been charged with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims – aged between five months and two years old – worked at 20 childcare centres across Melbourne between 2017 and 2025, according to police.
The 26-year-old childcare worker has yet to enter a plea and investigations are ongoing.
The centres were run by a variety of for-profit providers, including the private equity-backed Affinity Education and the ASX-listed G8 Education and they have denied accusations that profits may have been prioritised over welfare.
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Profit model
Australia’s childcare sector is highly fragmented, consisting of numerous small providers, which are often not-for-profit organisations. Formed by a syndicate of charities, Goodstart Early Learning is the biggest not-for-profit operator in Australia, with about 660 centres.
Given centre operators tend to generate thin profit margins that are reliant on government subsidised childcare fees, for-profit groups routinely takeover other centres to increase their size and boost the rate of return for their owners.
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