Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Bills

Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025

Introduction

Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): I move:

I move that I introduce a bill for an act to amend the Worker Screening Act 2020 in relation to the screening of persons who work with or care for children and for other purposes.

In introducing this bill, the normal start from the opposition would be that we are introducing this bill because we know action needs to happen now. But the one thing we are sure of on this side is that action needed to happen three years ago. We have had three years of delays in introducing legislation in here to tighten the Worker Screening Act 2020 and to ensure that children in Victoria are protected. We have seen too often in the media recently that working with children checks have literally been given to people or remain with people when they have complaints or investigations against them, and from this side of the house, we will not sit here and let that continue.

I note the work of the member for Kew and the member for Malvern, who are not waiting for a review but are putting in place actions to make the protection of children here in Victoria our priority. Not once have I sat down with the member for Malvern or the member for Kew and heard them say, ‘We have to wait for a national response’, because here in Victoria we have a responsibility to Victorian children and Victorian families, because what we have seen in the media is simply too much. Every single person across the state has watched as thousands and thousands of families have been impacted by the actions of someone working in child care who had allegations and complaints made against them but still their working with children check was in place. This has seen children having to go through the absolutely disgusting process now of undergoing tests for STIs here in Victoria. We have said continuously that at no stage would we on this side want to put politics into this. This is about protecting children.

A member interjected.

Brad BATTIN: I will answer. What am I doing now? I am doing what the government should be doing. We should be introducing legislation that should have been introduced by the government after the Ombudsman’s report back in 2022, and for someone on the backbench of the Labor Party to turn around now and say the issue is us introducing it, the issue is this government is trying to kick the can down the road and have another review. Worse than that, the person they have got heading up this review is the one who had to apologise to the South Australian community for overseeing one of the biggest crises they had in child care in South Australia. Former Premier Jay Weatherill should not be leading this investigation. It needs to be held totally independently.

But the fact remains, this bill is important and needs to go through this Parliament today. We need to make sure that we have given the powers for the things that we can do to make the changes that we can make to working with children checks so that action can be taken upon information that includes a working with children applicant or holder who poses an unacceptable risk to the safety of children, regardless of whether criminal charges have been laid.

That is one of the priorities, because when you see complaints go through, you cannot wait and hope that long term we are going to end up not seeing that complaint come to fruition, and we have seen the outcomes of what it is. This will also give immediate effect to the decision to refuse, suspend or revoke any working with children certificate here in Victoria. It will provide direction or refuse the working with children where giving a clearance would pose an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children. The priority in everything we are doing in this is about children. It will list the working with children applications on the law enforcement program – known as the LEAP database – to ensure that concerning interactions with Victoria Police such as alleged criminal behaviour, family violence incidents or missing persons reports trigger early warnings.

Now, I cannot believe, in today’s day, with the technology we have, that we do not have working with children certificates, working with children checks, available on the LEAP system, because Victoria Police are going to come into contact with people who are potentially putting children in danger and putting them at risk. We have got people who are in settings that are working with children that could be found out by Victoria Police if we had a working with children check come up on that LEAP system. They would react differently; they would investigate differently. This legislation today that I introduce is an absolute priority for this state. It is a priority for the kids. It is a priority to protect the children and a priority to also protect the workers so that they know that every person working in a centre has the checks that they undergo to ensure that it is a safe workplace and they can trust everyone around them.

We know how important child care here is in Victoria, and the only way to fix it is for the Labor Party to vote with our bill and ensure that this bill goes through this house in the interests of protecting children in Victoria today.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (15:02): Well, I am hardly surprised that the Leader of the Opposition has tried to introduce this bill. What has happened here – and I have got childcare centres named in my electorate – is incredibly serious, and here is not the place to be playing politics this time in the afternoon, with a kneejerk reaction from the opposition to try and introduce a piece of legislation and have it debated here. This is not the time nor the place to do this. A review is currently underway. A review is needed. These are incredibly serious, serious allegations that have been made. There are childcare centres in my electorate, in my neighbouring electorates. The community is extremely upset; they are worried. We will do anything that it takes – anything – and I reassure parents –

Members interjecting.

Sarah CONNOLLY: From the conversations that I have on the streets, parents know and grandparents know this is an incredibly serious matter. There are serious reforms that need to take place.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members will be removed without warning on interjections.

Sarah CONNOLLY: That is exactly why a review is currently underway. This is a review that will happen quite quickly, and the reforms that need to take place to prevent this from happening again will come out of this review. Here in this place we will debate them and look at putting them in place. We will do anything to protect children and families here in this place.

I cannot believe that those opposite are using this as an opportunity to time and time again use these sorts of things – you know, we have had numerous examples over the past couple of years that I have been here. They use the most horrendous incidents in our community; they bring them here into this place to toss around, toss around language, language about incredibly serious offences.

My sister, actually, and my mother, who has recently retired, are childcare workers. My sister is currently a childcare worker. We talk about the families and we talk about the children, and this is something that also the childcare workers – and there are many across our electorates, including in the electorates of those opposite – too have been traumatised by, these allegations.

This is not the place. This is not the time. This is pure politicking by those opposite to try and introduce a knee-jerk piece of legislation –

Roma Britnell interjected.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for South–West Coast.

Sarah CONNOLLY: of self-indulgence, again, by those opposite. I completely reject the motion and reject the legislation. I think that we need to get on and deal with the agenda that is before the house this week and let the review take place, and we should not do things in this place that will interfere with the criminal investigation that is currently underway. As the Premier has already said today, we need to make sure that justice is able to take place and that offenders who are before the law and facing time in jail over these offences get what is coming to them. This is another ridiculous opportunity that those opposite are trying to use here in this place to introduce frivolous pieces of legislation. A review is underway, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect families and children here in this state.

Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (15:06): The best time for this legislation to have been introduced was three years ago. That was the best time for this legislation to have been introduced. The second-best time is now, is today. For this Allan Labor government to indicate they are going to block the introduction of legislation to help protect Victorian children tells you they are more interested in politics and optics than they are in protecting Victorian kids. And that is to their shame, because every day this government dithers, every day this government delays, every day this government fails to take the action that the Victorian Ombudsman said we needed three years ago, Victorian kids are being put at risk. Instead this government wants to have a review into a review. That is not keeping Victorian kids safe.

As an MP, but mainly as a parent whose kids went through childcare, I am sure I join all members here in saying I was absolutely sickened and horrified by the reports we have seen recently and the charges that have been brought. It is disgraceful. When I look back at this report from the Victorian Ombudsman from September 2022, I note there are four recommendations. There was a recommendation to Melbourne City Mission – accepted. There were two recommendations to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing – both accepted. There was a recommendation to the Victorian government – no response. The Victorian government did not even have the courtesy to respond to the Ombudsman’s recommendation as to the changes that needed to occur, and three years later, they still have not responded. Is that the action of a government and a Premier who claims to take community safety seriously? Is that the action of a Premier who says child safety is the most important thing? Three years and they could not be bothered responding. That is dereliction of duty. That is a disgrace. And for members opposite to be supporting it and cheering it on and voting for it is a reflection on them.

The Ombudsman’s recommendations were very clear: Victoria’s working with children system is broken. It is broken because it has loopholes that have been exploited and are continuing to be exploited by those who would do our kids harm, and those loopholes need to be closed. The recommendations from the Ombudsman laid out a very clear series of changes that need to occur to make sure that those loopholes can be closed: for example, the working with children regulators should not have to wait for a criminal conviction or a disciplinary finding in the workplace in order to suspend, vary or revoke a working with children clearance. If they are satisfied on the basis that there is an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children, then the regulators should have the power to step in straight away. And that is what this bill does – it implements faithfully the recommendations of the Victorian Ombudsman. If the government thinks that paedophiles deserve due process, they can make that argument, but the Ombudsman said said Victorian kids deserve protection more than due process. That is why we are supporting the Ombudsman’s recommendations and giving the regulator the power, through this bill, to step in immediately whenever there is an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children, to refuse, to suspend or to revoke a working with children clearance.

We also believe that when there is an appeal against a suspension or a revocation, that suspension or revocation must continue in force until that appeal is heard by VCAT. Then in this bill we say that beyond that initial test of an unjustifiable risk to children there should be a further test of the public interest. So we are going to make it harder for VCAT to overturn a decision to refuse somebody a working with children check, because once again the protection of children should come first.

This is a ‘line in the sand’ moment for this government. They talk about protecting kids, but they did not do anything for three years. They talk about protecting kids; they could not even bother responding to the Ombudsman’s recommendation in the last three years. They talk about protecting kids; let us see how they vote on this bill to protect kids, to close the loopholes they were told about three years ago, to close the loopholes that may well have been exploited by people who are trying to do Victorian kids harm. This is going to be a test not just of the politics of this government but of its morality.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (15:11): I admire the opposition’s passion for and commitment to protecting children, and I admire the people on this side of the chamber as well, who have stepped up and said, ‘We will not wait for an Australian or a national-based response to this. We will ban personal devices. We will introduce a national register.’ I say that from the perspective of someone who, like a few other MPs in this house, is an out-of-home carer. Recently I had some children leave my care to go to a therapeutic home who had been horribly, horribly abused, and that was just before this story came out.

While I share the passion of those in the opposition, I cannot support this bill, because too many times we have seen legislation that does not close all the gaps. What I want to see here is a review that recommends legislation put forward by this government that makes abusing children something that just becomes unthinkable, that makes the cost of abusing children unthinkable and that makes sure there are no gaps in the legislation.

While I will say that the review is going forward, and I am confident in that, we also have a situation where I think there are questions to be raised around rules that are already in place in childcare centres. The first thing that I thought of when this came to light, as a former teacher, a former special development school teacher, who changed children, who gave rectal valium to children while they were fitting, was: how was this person alone in a room with children? How was this person alone in a room changing children? I am guessing, I am assuming, that is where we are at. There are rules in place in these centres that prohibit that. How was this person using a personal device anyway? While I do not want to step out there and be sub judice in any way, I think that beyond this bill being put forward today by the opposition there are questions that need to be answered, and those questions will be answered in this review. I say, ‘Get it done properly. Leave no gaps. Make sure this is not a box-ticking exercise.’ We need to lift standards, but we also need to support educators, and with that comes well-constructed and well-consulted legislation that, as I have said, leaves abusing children as something that is unthinkable and leaves operators of these companies thinking this is something that they are responsible for and this is something for which they need to make sure every single box is checked and children’s safety is first. So while I commend the house coming together, uniting today in solidarity, I think that once you have commissioned a review, that review should go forward.

A member interjected.

Paul EDBROOKE: I do not think, as I heard a member interject, that this will take three years. This review is due very soon, and already by Friday 26 September we will have a ban on personal devices. I think the will is there. I think the motivation is there. I think there is no-one in this chamber, let alone in our community, who looks at this and thinks that we should not be doing something. But there is also something to be said for well-considered legislation that comes out of a review of what actually went wrong.

At the moment we really only read in the Herald Sun what probably went wrong, but I guarantee you there are things that went wrong internally in these childcare centres and there are processes that should have been followed that were not. We need to make sure that that is in this review as well. We need to make sure that our legislation captures that, as I said, to make sure there are no gaps where people can abuse children and make sure that people think and perceive that abusing a child is so unthinkable and the price you pay is far too much. That is how we protect children, and I stand here today as someone who supports the reform that this government will put in as part of the review that is going forward at the moment, but I cannot support this bill.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (15:16): The working with children check system in Victoria is broken, and we cannot wait for another review, a review of a review, to make the urgent changes that are needed today to keep children safe in Victoria. The bill that the Liberals and Nationals have put forward today is a commonsense, practical bill that will make critical changes to ensure that the working with children check system is actually delivering for children in Victoria.

The horrific allegations that have been revealed over recent weeks in Victoria have shattered trust in Victoria when it comes to our childcare system. It has demonstrated that we do not have a system that is delivering for Victorian families. When parents drop their kids off at child care in the morning, they have an expectation that they will be safe, that they will be looked after, that the most vulnerable in our community will be protected by this government, because when we are elected to this place, our number one priority and our number one duty is to protect the vulnerable, to protect children.

The Allan Labor government is kicking the can down the road. It has failed to implement recommendations from the Ombudsman that were made in 2022. This is not a kneejerk reaction. This is responding to the Ombudsman’s report from three years ago. Three years ago the Ombudsman told the government that the system is not working, that it is not keeping our children safe. Yet here we are three years later and those opposite – the government – are refusing to stand with us, to put politics aside and to put children’s safety first. That is the number one job of every one of us in this place. If there is more to be done after the so-called rapid review, we will stand with the government and we will pass that legislation as a matter of urgency. But today children are not safe because the working with children check system in this state is broken.

A number of examples of how the working with children check system is broken have come to light over recent weeks. There was an example of a man, an offender, in Horsham who was convicted of holding child sexual abuse material. The police raided his home years ago and took this material, but he continued to hold an active working with children check. He continued to visit childcare centres, kinders. If the Ombudsman’s recommendations had been adopted in 2022 by this government, the secretary would have been able to take into account the fact that that offender had risk factors that made it unacceptable for him to continue to hold a working with children check. Does the government need a clearer example as to why we need to pass this bill today? There is the example of how the system is broken.

We saw with the alleged offender in Melbourne’s west a number of allegations being substantiated yet he continued to hold an active working with children check.

The system is not working, and that is why we have put forward a number of commonsense reforms: adopting the Ombudsman’s report; putting in place mandatory training for employees who have to work with our most vulnerable, ensuring they understand the child safety standards and ensuring that they know their reporting obligations; working with the Australian Childhood Foundation and survivor-advocate Emma to ensure that there is training around what child sexual abuse red flags look like so we can pick them up early; and making sure that the working with children check system is actually attached to the police database so, if police look up a person and see that they have an active working with children check, that is a red flag and can be picked up on immediately. Today is the day for the government to put politics aside, to stand with the opposition and to work constructively to put children’s safety first.

Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (15:21): I agree with the member for Kew that we do have a duty to protect the most vulnerable. However, we are conducting a rapid review into working with children. We are conducting a rapid review with Jay Weatherill and Pamela White into the system as it stands. From that review we will adopt every recommendation. The Premier and the ministers have been unequivocal on this. I cannot imagine that there is a single person in the state of Victoria who has not read about what the allegations are, and I will choose my words very, very carefully here. We tread on really dangerous ground, but I will be very careful. These allegations are beyond horrific. I think we all had a visceral response when we heard them, and as more have come out, we have all felt this really, really deeply. I have sat here and listened to everyone speak on this so far, and it is undeniable that every single one of us in this place wants to see a better system and never wants to see another child in care harmed or a child harmed full stop. Whatever we can do as a government, we will do it. We will accept every recommendation.

Roma Britnell interjected.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I am loath to interrupt my colleague on her feet making a very considered contribution, but the ongoing interjections from the member for South-West Coast are simply disrespectful and unacceptable, and I ask that you call her to account.

James Newbury interjected.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Without assistance, member for Brighton. I would ask all members to listen to other members with respect. I ask the member to continue in silence, please.

Daniela DE MARTINO: As I was saying, it is undeniable that there is considerable passion on everyone’s behalf here, and probably most of us know someone who in some way has been affected throughout their lives by abuse of the most horrific nature. All I can say is I understand why the opposition have brought this bill in, but I have confidence that the review that we have commissioned and are conducting as quickly as possible will be thorough and considered and will have the outcomes that we need to keep our children safe. We will adopt every recommendation, and I think it is important that we let that process play out in a considered and careful manner. I do implore and beseech everyone to try and keep, wherever possible, politics out of it. I say that without accusation but I say it with conviction, because I have stared in the face of a convicted paedophile and I have given evidence against that person – without giving away too much – so I can tell you that I feel this incredibly deeply. But I have absolute faith in our government and those conducting the review that they will act with the utmost integrity and with the greatest faith in their hearts to make sure that the outcomes are what our children deserve in this state.

We are already forging ahead, without the federal government, to ban mobile devices. That will take effect on 26 September. I hope that is already rolling out across centres as we speak; it should be. We have got that national register already, and the first phase has been implemented. That is pretty quick when you consider this was weeks ago. I am saying here: do not doubt the passion of those on this side; I do not doubt the passion of those on that side. We all want to see a better result for every single child in this state today and tomorrow. I do beseech everyone: please, keep the politics out of this. We will go ahead as a government with what we have planned, what is already being implemented, what is already being undertaken, to ensure that our children are safer.

Assembly divided on motion:

Ayes (32): Brad Battin, Jade Benham, Roma Britnell, Tim Bull, Martin Cameron, Annabelle Cleeland, Chris Crewther, Gabrielle de Vietri, Wayne Farnham, Sam Groth, Matthew Guy, David Hodgett, Emma Kealy, Tim McCurdy, Cindy McLeish, James Newbury, Danny O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Kim O’Keeffe, John Pesutto, Tim Read, Richard Riordan, Brad Rowswell, Ellen Sandell, David Southwick, Bill Tilley, Bridget Vallence, Peter Walsh, Kim Wells, Nicole Werner, Rachel Westaway, Jess Wilson

Noes (49): Juliana Addison, Jacinta Allan, Colin Brooks, Josh Bull, Anthony Carbines, Ben Carroll, Anthony Cianflone, Sarah Connolly, Chris Couzens, Jordan Crugnale, Lily D’Ambrosio, Daniela De Martino, Steve Dimopoulos, Paul Edbrooke, Eden Foster, Ella George, Luba Grigorovitch, Bronwyn Halfpenny, Katie Hall, Paul Hamer, Martha Haylett, Mathew Hilakari, Melissa Horne, Lauren Kathage, Sonya Kilkenny, Nathan Lambert, John Lister, Gary Maas, Alison Marchant, Kathleen Matthews-Ward, Steve McGhie, John Mullahy, Danny Pearson, Pauline Richards, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, Ros Spence, Nick Staikos, Natalie Suleyman, Meng Heang Tak, Jackson Taylor, Nina Taylor, Kat Theophanous, Mary-Anne Thomas, Emma Vulin, Iwan Walters, Dylan Wight, Gabrielle Williams, Belinda Wilson

Motion defeated.