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 include Child Safe Standards and a Reportable Conduct Scheme, based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.In December 2020, the Tasmanian Department of Justice asked for public submissions regarding its Draft Child Safe Organisations Bill 2020. The Child Safe Standards referred to in the bill largely align with the 10 standards in the National Principles. The bill will require organisations to report annually on the implementation of, and compliance with, the Principles and Standards. There is currently no publicly available timeline for implementation of the National Principles in Tasmania. 
 

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. In WA, implementation of the National Principles is being led by the Department of Communities and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, in partnership with key government agencies and CCYP. Western Australia is currently in the consultation phase for design of the independent oversight system which will include monitoring and enforcement of the National Principles. There is currently no publicly available timeline for implementation of the National Principles in WA.