By Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie
A Victorian government-employed carer for the disabled has been charged with 17 serious sexual abuse offences against a person in their care.
The charges are the latest in a series of recent prosecutions involving male carers working for the Department of Human Services or non-government disability care providers such as Yooralla.
In a case before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court, the male carer has been charged with multiple counts of sexual penetration of a person with a cognitive impairment and several counts of indecent assault.
The department is understood to have immediately alerted police upon learning of the allegations and has stood the worker down.
In response to questions from Fairfax Media, a spokeswoman for the department said: "Any allegation of abuse of a person with a disability is inexcusable and we are shocked and saddened by this most recent case."
An independent review has been launched by the department to determine how the alleged abuse was able to take place.
Revelations last November by Fairfax Media and ABC's Four Corners about Yooralla's handling of a former carer who raped several disabled female clients at a Melbourne home helped trigger state and federal parliamentary inquiries into the abuse of disabled people in residential care.
Victoria's Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, is also conducting a separate inquiry into how sex abuse cases involving the disabled have handled by both government and independent care providers.