The Child Abuse Royal Commission set out a plan to prevent abuse and harm to children and young people in organisations. Child Safe Standards are a list of actions that organisations can follow to protect and empower children and young people in their care. By requiring organisations to comply with Child Safe Standards, the government is fully implementing Royal Commission recommendations.

Organisations engaging with children and young people will be asked to use Child Safe Standards to build child safety into their daily work. The Standards list ten areas of activity where small actions can have a big impact on child safety:

1. Governance and culture
2. Empowering children and young people
3. Engaging families and communities
4. Equity and diversity
5. Staff recruitment and supervision
6. Complaints and reporting
7. Staff training
8. Risk management
9. Regular review and continuous improvement
10. Documenting policies and procedure

The types of organisations to be included has not been decided and this is one of the key questions the government is seeking the community’s views on.

The Royal Commission recommended that organisations be required to comply with Child Safe Standards if they engage in ‘child related work’, including the following sectors:

• Accommodation and residential services for children, including overnight excursions or stays,
• Activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children,
• Education services for children,
• Child protection services, including out-of-home care,
• Activities or services where clubs and associations have a significant membership of, or involvement by, children,
• Commercial services for children, including entertainment or party services, gym or play facilities, photography services, and talent or beauty competitions,
• Services for children with disability,
• Health services for children,
• Justice and detention services for children, including immigration detention facilities,
• Childcare or childminding services,
• Coaching or tuition services for children, and
• Transport services for children, including school crossing services.

The Victorian scheme is broader than the scope recommended by the Royal Commission. In addition to the list of organisations above, the Victorian scheme also covers:

• Victoria Government departments,
• Local councils in Victoria,
• Support services for parents and families funded under a State contract,
• Family violence or sexual assault services,
• Homelessness services,
• Youth services, and
• Victorian health services, hospitals and day procedure centres if they provide services to children.

It is possible that different sectors could come into the scheme at different times based on their readiness or other factors. See other questions in this section for more information.

Legislation will be developed during 2020, but may not take effect straight away, to allow organisations time to become familiar with the scheme and their obligations. Options include:

• Commencing education and other activities supporting organisations to comply in 2020, but delaying enforcement until later;
• Staging the scheme so that different organisation types are phased in gradually; or
• Delaying the entire scheme for a period of time.

If you have a view on how much time your organisation will need to prepare for Child Safe Standards, please make a submission during the consultation process.

The Australian Government is developing tools and resources to assist organisations to comply with Child Safe Standards, and these are freely available on the website of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Once established, the ACT oversight body will work with local organisations to help them understand what Child Safe Standards mean, and how they apply to their context. Examples of might include guidelines, telephone and email support, training courses, and communities of practice.

There will be a transition period as the oversight body is established, and organisations learn what Child Safe Standards means for them.

The primary role of the oversight body will be supporting organisations engaging with children and young people to build their capacity to provide child safe environments.

The oversight body will be asked to take a responsive regulatory approach, which means that in the first instance it will engage in cooperative, non-coercive communication when monitoring compliance with Child Safe Standards.

It is intended that formal enforcement powers will be only used in the rare situation where an organisation has the resources and ability to comply with the Standards, but repeatedly refuses to do so.

Working with Vulnerable People Checks and Reportable Conduct require organisations to report known incidents of abuse, and prevent known perpetrators from working with children.

In contrast, Child Safe Standards places the emphasis on early prevention; they help organisations prevent abuse from occurring in the first place.

The scheme will be designed to promote child safety while minimising the burden on organisations:

• There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to implementing the Standards. Organisations will have flexibility to comply in ways that make sense in their context (considering their size, the nature of their interactions with children, and the administrative resources available to them).
• The Standards encourage continuous improvement over time, not immediate leaps in progress.
• Organisations will not be expected to build things from scratch. ACT and federal oversight bodies will provide guidance material, tools and resources, training sessions, telephone and email support.

The scheme will be designed to promote child safety while minimising the burden on organisations:

• There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to implementing the Standards. Organisations will have flexibility to comply in ways that make sense in their context (considering their size, the nature of their interactions with children, and the administrative resources available to them).
• The Standards encourage continuous improvement over time, not immediate leaps in progress.
• Organisations will not be expected to build things from scratch. ACT and federal oversight bodies will provide guidance material, tools and resources, training sessions, telephone and email support.

While compliance will require work, the Standards also present opportunities for small business:

• Investment in prevention is cost effective, as it mitigates exposure to the costs of investigations following incidents, and
• Businesses that comply with the Standards are becoming providers of choice as parents increasingly ask about child safety when making purchasing decisions.

We are paying close attention to the schemes across the border in NSW and Victoria, and will try to find similarity and consistency.

Victoria regulated Child Safe Standards in 2016 following the Victoria Parliament Betrayal of Trust inquiry. The scheme is operated by the Victoria Commission for Children and Young People.

NSW will be similar to the Victorian model, but with some important changes. The NSW scheme will be operated by the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian.

The language of the ACT standards may be similar to the National Principles, but we will also look closely at the Victorian and NSW versions of the Standards.