Our Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland recently welcomed a new National Leadership Group to improve oversight of people with working with children checks (WWCC). This initiative comes in direct response to increasing worry over the safety of children in Australia. This new initiative comes in direct response to years of persistent advocacy by environmental groups. A major national probe that exposed gaps in the erratic current childcare scheme.
As for the new WWCC tracker, they plan to have a pilot program running by the end of this year. Along with her state and territory counterparts, Rowland will convene in Brisbane Australia Day weekend to go over the initiative and how it will be implemented. This year’s meeting comes at a particularly pivotal time. As a nation, we need to be serious about protecting children and maintaining the integrity of the WWCC system.
Addressing Key Concerns
Crucially, Rowland said, this new arrangement is a major advance in how quickly we can monitor people in possession of WWCCs. The overall goal of the initiative is to provide national standardization in what an individual must meet in order to be considered appropriate to work with children.
“The absence of any action to fix these problems is a significant and inexcusable failure on the part of governments,” Rowland said, reflecting on the findings of the 2015 royal commission report into working with children checks. The report’s most essential concern is “forum shopping.” Those with negative records have the ability to game the system by pursuing clearance in multiple jurisdictions, exploiting gaps in information sharing.
Rowland pointed out that five states—New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania—have adopted interstate decisions on WWCC applications. This amendment is a huge step forward in the regulatory turf, allowing protection of children to follow state lines.
“This addresses existing gaps and inconsistencies and will improve protections for children and young people.” – Michelle Rowland, Federal Attorney-General
Strengthening Safeguards
The pilot program would offer uninterrupted, near real-time scanning of criminal history information for WWCC holders. We hope this landmark improvement will greatly reinforce protections for children and youth. It takes direct aim at the vulnerabilities that recent Inspector General investigations have exposed.
In October, a Four Corners investigation revealed the grim reality. It exposed the ways paedophiles were able to penetrate Australia’s childcare system, by exploiting holes in the regulations and oversight. The frontline investigation found an alarming lack of a stronger, clearer framework to keep children safe. This will ensure that they’re protected from people who are a danger.
We call on the Federal Government to provide ongoing funding for the National Continuous Criminal Check (NCCC). Aligned data and information will be the crux of their new monitoring system. Rowland believes that technology can help improve condition and capacity. It will notify an individual when there is a change to their criminal history.
“This system will provide continuous, near real-time monitoring of changes to criminal history information for WWCC holders.” – Federal Government
Future Implications
As the pilot program prepares to roll out, there are high expectations for its impact on child safety standards across Australia. The next meeting – in Brisbane in early 2018 – is set to be a watershed for getting the movement in step among state and territory governments.
Rowland’s commitment to addressing these persistent problems makes clear that the government has begun to acknowledge its duty to protect children. The royal commission’s recommendations have made it clear that these issues can no longer be swept under the carpet.
“These problems are not new and have been recognised by governments for some time.” – Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
