Sylvia Jeffreys in tears over 'horrifying' allegations against childcare worker

A childcare worker remains in custody this morning after he was charged with more than 70 counts of alleged child abuse and other offences.

Joshua Brown, 26, worked at a number of early education centres across Melbourne before he was arrested in May after police discovered he was allegedly in possession of child abuse material.

Thousands of families have since been contacted by authorities, who recommend that 1200 children get tested for infectious diseases.

READ MORE: Childcare worker charged with 70 child sex offences had 'valid' check

The sickening allegations left parents all over Australia shaken, including mother-of-two and Today Extra host, Sylvia Jeffreys.

Victoria Police confirmed Brown was not known to them prior to his arrest, but like so many around the country, Jeffreys said she wants to know how Brown was hired.

"You don't have to be a parent to understand how horrifying all of this is," she said.

"Industry advocates right now are calling for urgent reforms."

Sylvia's sons, aged four and five, both attend daycare and she became emotional on-air thinking of how easily her family could find themselves in a similar situation to those allegedly targeted by Brown.

"They are all allegations at this point, of course, but they have rocked every parent, they have rocked the industry and it is deeply disturbing, but it is not an isolated incident," she said.

"There have been media reports for many months now of abuse and neglect in for-profit childcare centres, the system has failed these families, the system has failed these children and it has failed the many wonderful educators who work in the industry as well."

Sylvia said nothing was more important than this issue right now, as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"There will be parents this morning who will feel reluctant to drop their child at daycare today and that should never be the case," she said.

"It is so hard, it is so hard to even talk about it, let alone go through this, the parents who are going through this, and it needs to be at the top of the federal government's agenda today and tomorrow and every day until we see change."

Anybody with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online.

A dedicated hotline has been established for families who believe their children may have fallen victim to Brown's alleged crimes at 1800 791 241.

Support is also available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).