Authorities in Victoria will have the power to immediately suspend an individual’s working with children check during an investigation, under new laws to be fast-tracked through the parliament this week.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, said the laws, to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday, were just one part of an “overhaul” of the child safety system in the state, after a review by the former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and the senior bureacrat Pamela White.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The government ordered the review after it was revealed in July that a childcare worker in Victoria had been charged with sexually abusing eight children aged between five months and two years.
It is alleged that the worker held a valid working with children check (WCCC) at the time of his arrest in May, despite his employment being terminated by several centres.
Here’s what we know so far about the changes.
What is a WWCC and why does it need changing?
A WWCC is a background check conducted by the government that screens individuals before they are able to work with or care for children. There were about 350,000 in place in Victoria alone in 2023-34.
While every Australian jurisdiction has a WWCC scheme, the Weatherill and White review, released on Wednesday, described Victoria’s as the most “rigid” in the country.
This is because in Victoria, a WWCC can only be refused if an individual is charged with, convicted of, or found guilty of a serious offence or if a disciplinary or regulatory finding is made against them. These are also the only grounds that can trigger a reassessment or interim suspension of a WWCC in the state.
The review said this “over-reliance” on “above the line information” meant “red flags” could be missed and “an incomplete picture of risk” about an individual formed.
It also said the state’s laws only allowed immediate suspension of a person’s WWCC in “limited circumstances involving very serious offending”, unlike in New South Wales where an interim ban is able to take effect immediately where there is “a real and appreciable risk of harm to children” pending a reassessment or the completion of an investigation.
Is this the first time we are hearing about this problem?
No. In 2015, the royal commission into child abuse delivered a specific report on working with children checks and urged shifting to a national system.
Then, in 2022, the Victorian ombudsman recommended the state urgently change its laws after a youth worker was cleared to work with children despite facing sexual offence allegations, including rape, in NSW.
At the time, Deborah Glass raised the same concerns that “the powers of Victoria’s screening authority are among the most limited in Australia”.
What’s changing?
Under the worker screening amendment (strengthening the working with children check) bill, authorities will have the power to immediately suspend a WWCC while it is under reassessment for intended revocation, with no exceptions.
The attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, said 173 WWCCs would be immediately suspended as a result. “We will be able to move immediately to address some of those recent matters that have been raised in the media,” she said, adding: “Once this bill passes this week, the regulator will be able to move immediately to suspend those people until the re-assessment has taken place.”
Allan said the changes addressed situations where there were “allegations that have been made [and] credible information that is provided about the suitability of individuals”.
The laws will also allow a WWCC to be cancelled if it was obtained “using false or misleading information”, or if the individual was prohibited from applying for a clearance, which Kilkenny said would “protect children from those who try to deceive the system”.
The time limits for laying charges where false information has been provided to obtain a WWCC clearance will increase from 12 months to five years and six months.
Kilkenny said the legislation would also implement a mutual recognition agreement – made at a meeting of national, state and territory attorneys general this month – that those working with children who were “banned in one” jurisdiction were “banned in all”.
What about unsubstantiated allegations?
The changes to WWCC recommended by Weatherill and White go much further than those recommended by Glass back in 2022.
They include mandatory online child safety training and testing to obtain a WWCC, not dissimilar in format to the training required when applying for a responsible service of alcohol certificate, and an internal review process for WWCC decisions, removing the option to challenge decisions at the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal.
The most significant, though, is allowing unsubstantiated allegations to be considered when granting a WWCC.
The government has committed $42m to implement all 22 recommendations by the end of the year.
Will it pass and when?
Kilkenny said this first bill would be fast-tracked through parliament this week, which could mean some late-night sittings.
At shadow cabinet on Monday, the Coalition opposition agreed that it would not stand in the way of the bill’s passage, though it would probably try to move some amendments. The Greens are also expected to support it.
What has been the federal response?
Eleven of the review’s recommendations were directed at the commonwealth government, so there have also been changes at the national level.
After a meeting of education ministers on Friday, the federal minister, Jason Clare, announced plans to introduce a national educator register, so authorities can know who has worked where and when, and a trial of CCTV in up to 300 centres nationally. Both were recommendations of the Weatherill and White review.
Clare also committed to placing the best interests and the safety of children as a primary consideration in national law – the first recommendation of the review and a key request of Victoria’s minister for children, Lizzie Blandthorn, at the meeting.
“Notwithstanding how complicated and frustrating the national law process of reform can at times be, everybody at that table agreed with Victoria that it was time that the best interests of the children – from the service to the boardroom – came first,” Blandthorn said on Tuesday.
She said 10 of the review’s recommendations had been “addressed in part or in full” at the meeting.
