An oversight system that responds to child safety

The Royal Commission has made recommendations that require Governments and institutions and employees who provide services to children to develop and maintain a high degree of transparency and accountability; through building skills and competencies to ensure a child centred and child safe environment, oversight and regulation by independent bodies. Work to meet these recommendations will focus on improvements to:

• reporting of child sexual abuse by institutions and their staff;
• responding to complaints of child sexual abuse; and
• information sharing between agencies with responsibilities for children.

A number of bodies currently provide child safety oversight functions in the ACT, including the Public Advocate, Children and Young People Commissioner, ACT Ombudsman, Human Services Registrar and the Teacher Quality Institute. Further, from 2019 the Inspector of Corrective Services will commence its inspection role at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.

A number of the measures recommended by the Royal Commission’s Criminal Justice Report have been in place in the ACT for some time; for example, measures to support vulnerable witnesses to give evidence in a way which does not re-traumatise them. Legislation was passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly in February 2018 in response to several of the Royal Commission’s recommendations. This included amendments to ACT grooming and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child offences, as well as sentencing reforms for child sex offenders.

Contents:

• Independent oversight of child safety
• Mandatory reporting
• Reportable Conduct schemes
• Information sharing
• Record keeping
• Student information sharing
• Teacher registration
• Carers regulation

Independent oversight of child safety

The Royal Commission has recommended an independent oversight body to monitor and enforce the child safe standards. The ACT Government will work with stakeholders to identify options across government and non-government sectors and explore how the Child Safe Standards will interact with existing oversight functions.

The ACT Government will also consider how to incorporate an independent oversight body with the appropriate visitation, complaint handling and reporting powers, to provide oversight of youth detention within existing legislation and operational arrangements. Through this process, the ACT Government will need to consider the functions and roles of the Inspector of Corrective Services when it commences operation.

The ACT Government will ensure that arrangements are developed that consider how boarding schools would meet the Child Safe Standards and will introduce arrangements to require the non-government education sector to meet the Child Safe Standards.

Mandatory reporting

The ACT has a mandatory reporting scheme in place that requires that certain people be mandated to report situations where they form a belief on reasonable grounds that a child or young person has experienced sexual or physical abuse or neglect. The mandated reporter is not required to prove that abuse or neglect has occurred.

The ACT Government will work to establish an online mandatory reporter guide.  ACT Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS) Intake staff will require additional ongoing learning and development to align existing practice to any change to mandatory reporting guidance. In order to achieve national consistency in reporter groups, the ACT Government will also undertake work to extend mandatory reporter groups to include non-government employees and religious ministries.

The ACT Government will undertake consultation with key stakeholders on the treatment of religious confession, for the purposes of mandatory reporting law. The ACT Government has legislation in place under the Children and Young People Act 2008 and the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (ACT) that provides comprehensive protection to individuals who make reports about child sexual abuse in institutional contexts.

Reportable Conduct Schemes

The Royal Commission has stated during the course of its work that the Reportable Conduct Scheme operating in New South Wales is the most effective oversight mechanism it is aware of to ensure that child sexual abuse that occurs in organisations is reported, investigated and monitored.

The ACT Reportable Conduct Scheme commenced on 1 July 2017. In accordance with the wishes of the community, the ACT scheme was closely modelled on the scheme that has been operating in NSW since 1999.  Interjurisdictional consistency is important to ensure that people who would do harm to children cannot exploit differences between jurisdictions to gain access to children, and to streamline the regulatory burden of service providers.

The ACT Legislative Assembly unanimously supported this approach during its debate on the Reportable Conduct and Information Sharing Legislation Amendment Act 2016 in August 2016. Like the NSW Scheme, the ACT Scheme currently covers organisations that fall within certain categories, including government and non-government schools, all ACT Government Directorates, providers of childcare services, health services, out-of-home care services, and others prescribed by regulation. From 1 July, religious organisations will be fully within scope of the scheme.

In the 2016-17 Budget, the ACT Government allocated $1.336 million over four years for administration of the Scheme, and an additional $615,000 in 2017-18. Expanding the scope of the scheme to include all religious organisations is being supported with an additional $1.1 million over two years.

The Royal Commission’s Final Report recommended a wider range of organisations be included within scope. This includes providers of overnight camps, National Disability Insurance Scheme providers, vocational training providers and others. The ACT Government will consult with these sectors about their possible inclusion in the scheme.

Information Sharing

The continuing operation of the Reportable Conduct Scheme will improve the ability of prescribed bodies to share information. Given its proximity to New South Wales, the ACT Government is keenly aware of the importance of cross-border collaboration to the effective exchange of information to protect children.

There is further work to be done to improve information sharing within the territory, and between jurisdictions. The ACT Government will continue work internally, and with other states and territories, to improve information sharing to better protect children.

This is a complex area of law and the ACT Government is conscious of the importance of the right to privacy, which is enshrined in section 12 of the Human Rights Act 2004.  The importance of upholding this right and the limits on disclosure will be clearly communicated when implementing information exchange programs.

Record keeping

The record keeping principles recommended by the Royal Commission are compatible with existing records, information and data management principles established by the ACT Government.

The ACT Government retains most records relating to child sexual abuse that has occurred or is alleged to have occurred for a period of 99 years. The ACT Government will apply its normal records disposal authorisation processes under the Territory Records Act to ensure that all relevant types of records are considered and retained appropriately.

Student information sharing

The ACT Government has commenced work to consider possible amendments to the Education Act 2004 to incorporate the Royal Commission’s recommendations for the exchange of a student’s information when they move to another school. The exchange of a student’s information should provide appropriate safeguards to ensure that information provided is proportionate to assist in meeting the student’s, and other students’, safety and wellbeing needs, and that information is disseminated on a need-to-know basis. The ACT Government will work with stakeholders to ensure that the arrangements put in place fully consider the privacy impacts on students and their families, and balance these impacts with actions that are in the best interests of students.

The ACT Government will participate in the development of a national approach to the information exchange of student data through COAG Education Council processes.

Teacher registration

The ACT Government established the ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) as an independent statutory authority to enhance community confidence in the teaching profession through professional regulation. TQI keeps a register of, and records relating to, teachers working or intending to work in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in the ACT. If regulatory action is taken against a registered teacher other Teacher Regulatory Authorities are notified.

The Royal Commission determined that provisions for nationally consistent requirements for teacher registration be strengthened to assist with safeguarding students. A national review of the level of consistency of teacher registration has commenced.

The ACT Government supports the Royal Commission’s recommendation for nationally consistent legislative requirements about the types of information recorded on teacher registers. This will allow jurisdictions to share information about teachers who move from one jurisdiction to another. The ACT Government agrees that the protection of individuals’ privacy and the responsible and transparent handling of personal information by public sector agencies is essential.

The ACT Government is engaged in the ongoing work of the National Review of Teacher Registration. The review is looking at teacher registration in Australia to ensure processes are nationally consistent, rigorous and focus on teacher quality. The ACT Government is reviewing the Teacher Quality Institute Act 2010 and will consider whether there are any changes which may strengthen teacher registration requirements to better protect children from sexual abuse in schools.

Carers regulation

The Royal Commission recommends that states and territories introduce legislation to establish nationally consistent carers registers in their respective jurisdictions. The ACT Government has commenced development of a carers register for all foster and relative/kinship carers in the ACT, and will consider how to include residential care staff. The ACT Government will undertake work to define the scope of information required for the carers register and work with stakeholders to identify the intersection with other policy and legislation, such as the Reportable Conduct scheme, to streamline information sharing provisions. The ACT Government will also undertake further analysis of other agencies and organisations required to participate in the information sharing systems to support a comprehensive carers register.