By Blair Jackson
A Current Affair on Friday reported Mr Brown, 26, previously worked as an 鈥渋nstructor鈥 at Shindo Karate in Hoppers Crossing from 2013 to 2017, with his resume 鈥 exclusively obtained by the network 鈥 detailing he taught children during his time there.
However, a spokesman for Melbourne鈥檚 Shindo Karate association told NewsWire that Mr Brown was a student, never an instructor, and never would have been among children without parents and an actual instructor nearby.
鈥淗e never played a role in instruction, instructing the kids,鈥 the spokesman said.
鈥淎nd at no point whatsoever was he ever under lack of supervision; he was a student and there鈥檚 always been accredited instructors, i.e. police officers, that work in the environment.鈥
鈥淎t no point was he ever left alone with children. At no point (have) children or parents come to us with any concerns.鈥
On the resume, Mr Brown said he has done admin work at youth dance centre Dance Network in Melbourne鈥檚 southwest since 2019. NewsWire has contacted the centre for comment, and is not suggesting Mr Brown has been accused of wrongdoing while employed at either the dance centre or the dojo.
Mr Brown, 26, has been charged with 70 child sex offences after he allegedly abused eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre in southwest Melbourne.
It is alleged some children were as young as five months.
Parents and caregivers of 1200 children have been directed to get their kids tested for sexually transmitted infections.
Police announced the charges on Tuesday, saying they were investigating Mr Brown鈥檚 employment at 20 Melbourne childcare centres. They also took the unusual step of applying for Mr Brown鈥檚 name suppression to be lifted, to inform families with children at the affected centres to get their young ones tested.
Revelations about Mr Brown鈥檚 alleged offending, and the number of childcare centres he worked at, have sparked an immediate response from politicians, despite years-old calls for national reform to working with children checks.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said when parliament resumed this month, new laws would be introduced to allow fraud investigators to conduct random, unannounced visits at childcare centres without a warrant, and without the need to be accompanied by police.
Separate laws would also allow the federal government, which currently provides $16bn of annual funding to centres, to scrap payments to places which do not meet standards.
State and federal education ministers will meet to discuss how CCTV cameras can be best used to monitor childcare centres, and the national attorney-generals will work out better information sharing regimes when they meet in August.
Many of these reforms were recommended by the 2015 Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.