National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds has praised Attorney-General Michelle Rowland after a meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General on Friday reached agreements to pursue critical reforms to the Working With Children Check scheme.
‘These agreements, to act on recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2015, demonstrate the importance of leadership by the Australian Government on policy reform for child safety and wellbeing that has been stalled by our complex federation governance structure.
The Working With Children Check is a state and territory-run screening system for people in child-related roles. The Royal Commission’s 2015 report on the checks urged nationally consistent standards and stronger cross-jurisdictional information sharing to close gaps exploited by offenders.
‘I note Attorney-General Rowland spoke to the media afterwards about the need to work “as a team” with the states and territories.
‘This follows strong statements and action by Minister Jason Clare, Minister Jess Walsh, and by the Prime Minister, who said recently on ABC’s 7:30 program: “I’m concerned about children …. I’m concerned about the safety of kids.”
‘The agreement by all states and territories to fast-track these long overdue reforms to the WWCC system demonstrates that the Australian Government taking a leadership role is crucial when it comes to improving child safety and wellbeing.
‘There is still much more work to do to strengthen the WWCC system, and to make child safety and wellbeing a national priority.
‘We need to act on decades of evidence-based recommendations to prevent harm to children wherever they are, not just in the early childhood education sector.
‘Governments across the federation working together ‘as a team’, and clear points of accountability including a Cabinet Minister for Children, are required to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of Australia’s youngest citizens.’
