{"id":646059,"date":"2026-05-03T02:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/646059\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T02:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:12:22","slug":"was-delays-on-working-with-children-check-child-safety-changes-criticised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/646059\/","title":{"rendered":"WA’s delays on Working with Children Check, child safety changes criticised"},"content":{"rendered":"

People who fail Working with Children Checks interstate could still get one in WA because of what a leading child safety expert has described as a “shameful” delay in updating the state’s laws.<\/p>\n

Western Australia remains the only state or territory to have not passed legislation to mandate a ‘banned in one, banned in all’ approach to the checks.<\/p>\n

Once in force, it would mean that a person denied a Working with Children Check (WWCC) anywhere else in the country would not be able to get one in WA.<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Higgins is also an Australian Catholic University professor. (RN Breakfast: Luke Siddham Dundon)<\/p>\n

Institute of Child Protection Studies director Daryl Higgins said it was “one of the simplest things that we can do”.<\/p>\n

“It’s I think a shameful act if governments sit by and don’t take action when there’s a very clear and easy way,” he said.<\/p>\n

WA left behind<\/p>\n

In the wake of high-profile failures of child protection systems last year<\/a>, attorneys-general from around the country agreed to six “priority actions”, including better information sharing.<\/p>\n

The first priority, a mutual recognition of failed WWCC tests, was meant to be done by “early 2026”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Attorneys-General from across the country are leading changes to Working with Children Check laws. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

Every other state has implemented those changes, and WA remains the only laggard after the ACT passed its legislation in December and the NT did the same in early February.<\/p>\n

Broken Working with Children Check system<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia’s Working with Children Check system has lulled people into a false sense of security and urgent reform is needed.<\/p>\n

A WA government spokesperson said the WWCC reform was expedited but, after being introduced in December, it faced delays and is still awaiting debate in the upper house pending a committee report due in early May.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said it remains on track to meet national deadlines for consistent Working with Children Checks.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The WA government introducing changes to Parliament in December but they are yet to pass. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

While endorsing the checks as an important part of children protection systems, Professor Higgins said relying on them alone was “letting children down”.<\/p>\n

“We actually have to create cultures of safety, and so that involves training of people, it involves prevention strategies to be able to not only detect grooming when it might be occurring but to create safe environments so that it doesn’t happen,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Recent years have seen a number of high-profile failures of systems meant to keep children safe. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

WA’s Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones agreed.<\/p>\n

“The biggest way that we can keep children safe is to have a culture in organisations of questioning, of listening to children’s concerns,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Jacqueline<\/p>\n

Jacqueline McGowan\u2011Jones says legislating child safe principles should be a “real priority”.\u00a0 (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

National principles for child-safe organisations, created in the wake of the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, are meant to set out what that looks like.<\/p>\n

In November, the Auditor General found WA was “lagging behind” with that also.<\/p>\n

“The state’s slow progress to implement the national principles is disappointing,” Auditor General Caroline Spencer wrote, while acknowledging some organisations had voluntarily started to follow the principles.<\/p>\n

“Especially given recent publicised failings<\/a> in childcare that highlight the heartbreaking fact that children continue to experience harm.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Auditor General was critical of WA’s pace of reform. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said “significant work” was underway, including public awareness campaigns and capacity building in the sector.<\/p>\n

Review underway into further changes<\/p>\n

All of this is happening as the Department of Communities eyes further changes to the WWCC system.<\/p>\n

An independent review, at a cost of nearly $200,000, is currently investigating “how applications from individuals with a criminal history are considered”.<\/p>\n

That includes looking at how charges of family and domestic violence and violence towards adults are considered in the process.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Department of Communities is considering two sets of changes to Working with Children Checks. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

Also being considered is whether authorities should more readily issue temporary ‘negative notices’, which would stop people working with children, while further investigations take place.<\/p>\n

A department spokesperson described it as a “proactive step”.<\/p>\n

“This process aims to ensure the WWCC Screening Unit is set up to continue prioritising child safety, as legislative reforms progress at both State and National level,” they said.<\/p>\n

Dr McGowan-Jones urged caution in any recalibration of that process, recalling a time when she was working in child protection that consideration was being given to a man working in shared accommodation.<\/p>\n

“That person 20 years prior had had a family and domestic violence charge \u2026 and about 10 years prior a public urination charge,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Dr McGowan-Jones says Working with Children Check policies need to be carefully calibrated. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

The Commissioner said the person was going to be denied a WWCC until it was reviewed because of how long had passed since the charges.<\/p>\n

“And in fact, that person wasn’t a risk and became one of the best staff members in that facility,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So we do have to be careful that we don’t just assume a criminal history is severe enough or warrants them not working with children.”<\/p>\n

The Department of Communities is also considering public feedback on other proposed changes, including what is classed as ‘child-related work’ and any exemptions to those categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People who fail Working with Children Checks interstate could still get one in WA because of what a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,52361,312597,44,86,45,9570,9569,52358,145184],"class_list":["post-646059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-child-safety","tag-child-sexual-abuse-royal-commission","tag-news","tag-perth-news","tag-wa-news","tag-wa-politics","tag-wa-pols","tag-working-with-children-checks","tag-wwcc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}