Child Safe Standards

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has committed to implementing the National Principles, however there are currently no Child Safe Standards in place. The ACT currently has a Reportable Conduct Scheme administered by the ACT Ombudsman, which oversees how organisations prevent and respond to allegations of child abuse and misconduct.
In October 2019, the ACT government began the development of child safe standards scheme. Public consultation ran from November 2019 until February 2020. The government had planned to develop legislation during 2020, however, the implementation of the scheme has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently no publicly available timeline for implementation of the National Principles in the ACT.
 

The NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian released the NSW Child Safe Standards in mid-2020, with early learning services being required to implement the standards from February 2022. The NSW Child Safe Standards are aligned with the National Principles, and the OCG has confirmed that if an organisation is complying with the National Principles, it will be considered to be also complying with the NSW Child Safe Standards. The OCG oversees compliance with the NSW Child Safe Standards and administering the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
 

Queensland has accepted the National Principles, however they do not currently have any Child Safe Standards in place. Queensland Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs is leading the work relating to the development of a new child safe framework. There is currently no publicly available timeline for implementation of the National Principles in Queensland.
 

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations have replaced the former South Australian  Child Safe Environments – Principles of Good Practice. From 1 July 2021, all organisations developing child safe policies and procedures must align these with the National Principles, and reflect the SA legislative context.
Organisations that work with children are required to lodge a Child Safe Environments compliance statement with the Department of Human Services.  The statement must be lodged every 5 years and organisations must update their compliance statement whenever there are changes to their organisation.
The Department of Human Services South Australia is responsible for the implementation of the National Principles and the monitoring of organisations’ compliance statements. 
 

The Tasmanian government has committed to implementing the National Principles, however there are currently no Child Safe Standards in place. The Tasmanian Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework will be a legislatively mandated framework comprising of Child Safe Standards and a Reportable Conduct Scheme. The project to develop and implement the Framework is expected to go for three years. The indicative commencement date of the Framework is 1 January 2024, and it is expected there will be phased implementation across the range of organisations required to comply. 
 

The implementation of the National Principles in Western Australia (WA) is currently voluntary. In 2019, the Commissioner for Child and Young People (CCYP) revised their child safe resources to align with the National Principles.  Western Australia have passed legislation for a reportable conduct scheme to be administered to make Western Australian children safer.  It will commence on a date to be proclaimed. Conduct covered by the Scheme in the first year will include: sexual offences; sexual misconduct; physical assault; and other prescribed offences. After 12 months of the operation of the Scheme, conduct will also include: significant neglect of a child; and any behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm to a child. The types of organisations covered by the Scheme in the first year include childcare services.