Urgent Overhaul for Child Worker Screening
Today, at the first meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) of the 48th Parliament, Attorneys-General from across Australia agreed to drive decisive action to deliver a national approach and address systemic gaps in Working with Children Checks (WWCCs) to improve the safety of children across Australia.
Attorneys-General today agreed to urgently work towards implementing mutual national recognition of negative WWCC decisions (including negative notices, suspensions and interim bars) by the end of 2025.
This means a person rejected for a WWCC in one jurisdiction will be rejected in other jurisdictions – banned in one, banned in all. The Commonwealth will continue to work with remaining jurisdictions to integrate into the system that allows for the sharing of these decisions.
The Commonwealth has also committed to progressing National Continuous Checking Capability, to provide continuous, near-real time monitoring of national changes to criminal history information of WWCC holders, building on the pilot underway by the Australian Criminal Intellgence Commission.
To support this, Attorneys-General agreed to scope costs and systems changes for consideration by SCAG before the end of the year.
In addition to closing loopholes, Attorneys-General agreed to improve national consistency and strengthen the quality of WWCC assessment frameworks. This means better checks and increased safeguards for children.
Collectively, these measures will deliver significant improvements to WWCC systems and establish concrete milestones to progress the establishment of a broader real-time information sharing capability and a national approach for mutual recognition.
Attorneys-General noted WWCC reform was one part of a significant volume of work already underway to improve child safety outcomes.
This includes work under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse, which considers child sexual abuse in all settings, including within families, online and within organisations.
Over the longer term, this work will also contribute to strengthening worker screening across the care and support economy, further enhancing safety for vulnerable Australians and improving workforce productivity.
In close collaboration with work led by the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, Education Minister Jason Clare will convene a special purpose meeting on 22 August 2025 to consider options to enhance safety outcomes for children in the early childhood education and care sector.
https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/delivering-urgent-reform-working-children-checks-15-08-2025