The federal government has announced a $37 million funding package to reform the Working with Children Check (WWCC) system, aiming to prevent offenders from slipping through gaps between police checks in different states.
The initiative will implement a “banned in one, banned in all” approach, involving nationwide, ongoing monitoring of WWCC holders, with rollout expected by the end of this year.
The reforms were initially recommended by the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission in 2015, but recent high-profile cases of alleged abuse at childcare centres have accelerated the push for action.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the five-year funding package will support the National Continuous Checking Capability (NCCC), which provides “near real-time monitoring of changes to criminal history information.”
“Child safety is a top priority for the Albanese government. That’s why we are progressing a coordinated and ambitious reform agenda to achieve meaningful consistency across jurisdictions for when a person is suitable to hold a WWCC and when they should be excluded,” Rowland said. “This addresses existing gaps and inconsistencies and will improve protections for children and young people.”
Rather than creating a single national database, the government will allow states and territories to implement the collective change individually. Currently, five states and territories already recognise negative WWCC decisions from other jurisdictions, and the remaining three are expected to introduce legislation this year.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has been piloting the system since March, with attorneys-general approving the changes in August. ACIC executive director Jeremy Johnson explained that, currently, WWCC applicants undergo a point-in-time Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check through the National Police Checking Service (NPCS).
The new NCCC system will add an ongoing, continuous layer of monitoring, ensuring that if an entitlement holder is charged with a relevant offence in any state or territory, the information will be immediately forwarded to the relevant screening unit for assessment.
