Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025

Statement of compatibility

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (10:19): I lay on the table a statement of compatibility with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006:

In accordance with section 28 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the Charter), I make this statement of compatibility with respect to the Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025 (the Bill).

In my opinion, the Bill is compatible with the human rights protected by the Charter. I base my opinion on the reasons outlined below.

Overview

The Bill amends the Worker Screening Act 2020 to strengthen the framework for assessing the suitability of people to work with or care for children. Key changes include:

• Requiring applicants to provide evidence of recent training on the Child Safe Standards, mandatory reporting requirements, and child abuse awareness.

• Allowing the Secretary to consider relevant information from any person or source when determining or reassessing an application.

• Providing the Secretary with a general discretion to refuse or revoke a Working with Children Check (WWCC) if satisfied it would pose an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children.

• Introducing shorter clearance durations for for-profit child-related work.

• Expanding suspension and reassessment powers, and clarifying VCAT’s review role in discretionary refusal and revocation decisions.

• Requiring the Secretary to share clearance and applicant details with Victoria Police for inclusion in the Law Enforcement Assistance Program.

The Bill’s objective is to ensure that decisions about a person’s eligibility to work with children are based on the broadest and most relevant range of information, and that child safety is prioritised.

Human Rights Issues

The following human rights are relevant to the Bill: privacy (s 13(a)); reputation (s 13(b)); fair hearing (s 24); and the protection of families and children (s 17).

1. Right to privacy and reputation (Section 13)

The Bill permits additional collection, use and disclosure of personal information, including training records and personal details shared with Victoria Police. It also allows for enquiries to be made to any person or source, and for broader information sharing between agencies. Any interference with privacy is lawful and not arbitrary because: (a) the powers are exercised for the clear statutory purpose of assessing child-safety risk; (b) the information sought or shared is directly relevant to that assessment; and safeguards exist under the Worker Screening Act 2020, privacy laws, and applicable record-keeping and security requirements.

2. Right to a fair hearing (Section 24)

Section 24(1) of the Charter applies to parties to a civil proceeding, including merits review proceedings before VCAT. While the Bill’s administrative decision-making processes for granting, refusing, suspending or revoking a WWCC are not themselves civil proceedings, the Bill preserves existing rights for affected persons to seek review at VCAT. Those review proceedings will attract the fair hearing guarantees under section 24(1).

3. Protection of families and children (Section 17)

The Bill promotes the right of every child to protection in their best interests by strengthening the WWCC screening framework. Measures such as mandatory training, expanded grounds for refusal or revocation of clearances, broader information gathering, and enhanced information sharing with Victoria Police are directed at preventing unsuitable individuals from working with children, thereby supporting the State’s obligation under section 17(2) of the Charter.

Justification for any limitations

The Bill pursues the legitimate objective of enhancing child safety in regulated work and volunteer environments. Any limitations on individual rights are: (a) prescribed by law; (b) necessary to achieve the important purpose of preventing harm to children; and (c) accompanied by procedural safeguards, rights of review, and proportionality in application.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the Worker Screening Amendment (Safety of Children) Bill 2025 is compatible with the human rights protected by the Charter, because any limitations are reasonable, necessary, and proportionate to the paramount objective of protecting children from harm.

Georgie Crozier MP

13 August 2025

Second reading

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (10:19): I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Like all Victorians, I was sickened and horrified by the allegations of sexual assault against children in a number of childcare centres across Melbourne. I note that more than 70 charges have been laid against a childcare worker, and 2000 Victorian children have undergone testing for sexually transmitted diseases – underlining the need for urgent reform to our working with children check system.

Every day this government dithers, every day it delays, every day it fails to act on what the Ombudsman told us three years ago, Victorian kids are put at risk. Instead, we get a review into a review. This is not protecting children.

That is why I am moving this bill on behalf of the Liberal and Nationals coalition, because our children are deserving of protection today, not next month or next year when the government gets around to introducing their own bill after their so-called rapid review.

The Victorian Ombudsman reviewed the working with children check system in September 2022 and published a report making four recommendations. One of these recommendations was for the Victorian government to make sensible and straightforward reforms to the working with children check system to keep Victorian children safe. But the government did nothing. Not even the courtesy of a reply. Three years later, still nothing.

The Ombudsman’s findings were clear: the system is broken because it has loopholes that have been – and continue to be – exploited by those who would harm our children. These loopholes must be closed. The then Ombudsman Deborah Glass warned that the powers of Victoria’s screening authority are among the most limited in Australia. I quote:

Reforms to the legislation are needed to bring Victoria in line with other states and territories, and to promote the rights of children and families enshrined in Victoria’s Human Rights Charter.

One key recommendation was that the working with children check regulator should not have to wait for a criminal conviction or workplace disciplinary finding to act. If there is an unjustifiable risk to a child’s safety, the secretary should have the power to act immediately.

The Ombudsman recommended that the secretary should be empowered to ‘obtain and consider any information that may be relevant to an applicant’s suitability to work with children’.

That’s what this bill does – faithfully implements the Ombudsman’s recommendations. If the government wants to argue paedophiles deserve more process, they can make that argument. We say children deserve protection first.

The need for reform is not theoretical. We’ve seen examples in recent weeks that show the system is failing. In Horsham, a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material kept his working with children check after the police investigation commenced – and, as a result, he continued visiting childcare centres and kinders. If the Ombudsman’s recommendations had been adopted in 2022, the secretary could have acted to revoke his clearance.

In Melbourne’s west, the alleged offender Joshua Brown had two substantiated reports of workplace misconduct found against him, including aggressively handling children, yet he continued to hold a valid check and went on to work at 10 more centres.

The system is broken.

Our bill does more than close loopholes. It implements proactive reform. It keeps suspensions or revocations in force until appeals are heard. It raises the test for VCAT to overturn refusals. And we propose further commonsense reforms: mandatory training for those working with children on the child safety standards, reporting obligations, and child abuse awareness – developed with and backed by the Australian Childhood Foundation and survivor advocates.

The bill reduces the validity of a working with children check from five years to three years for those who need a clearance for their employment – increasing the frequency of screening and enhancing the strength of the system.

Finally, this bill will link the working with children check system to the Victoria Police database, so police can instantly see and act when a holder poses a risk.

This is a ‘line in the sand’ moment. The Ombudsman told the government three years ago the system was broken. They did nothing. They did not even respond.

The government has an opportunity to put politics aside today and work constructively with the Liberals and Nationals to put children’s safety first.

Indeed, all members in this place can demonstrate that they don’t just talk the talk about protecting kids – they can walk the walk by supporting this bill – by voting to close the loopholes and finally act on what the government should have acted upon years ago.

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:24): I move:

That debate on this bill be adjourned for two weeks.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned for two weeks.