In February, Rachel called on the Premier for greater safeguards to be implemented through the working with children check system, on a national level. This call was not responded to. Meanwhile, reports of serial child predators within the childcare system have horrified the nation.
Rachel again asked for a cohesive, nationally harmonised approach to ensure that working with children checks are serving their intended purpose.
Tuesday the 29th of July 2025
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
Substantive Question
My question is for the Attorney-General, represented in this place by the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation. In February I asked the Premier to call for a nationally harmonised working with children check that includes mandatory child abuse prevention education. I am yet to receive a response. Five months have now passed, and in that time a childcare worker in Melbourne’s south-east was charged with more than 70 offences against children in his care, including producing child abuse material. Horrifically, this person held a valid working with children check.
Evidently this system is broken. The best time it could have been fixed was before the abuse happened. The second-best time is now. So my question is: what is the Attorney-General doing to call for a national reform approach to the working with children check system?
Enver Erdogan (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice):
Substantive Response
I thank Ms Payne for her question and advocacy on this issue. I will make sure that in line with the standing orders that is referred to the Attorney-General in the other place for an appropriate response.
Rachel Payne:
Supplementary Question
I thank Minister Erdogan for passing that one on. By way of supplementary, in terms of what can be considered during an assessment, Victoria has the most limited working with children checks in the country. I understand there are plans to change this, with the first step taking place in August.
Can the Attorney-General advise what other steps are being taken to improve Victoria’s working with children check system?
Enver Erdogan:
Supplementary Response
I thank Ms Payne for that supplementary question, and I will make sure that is passed on to the Attorney-General in the other place for a written response.
Response received, 11th of August 2025:
I thank the Member for her question. The Allan Labor Government has been crystal clear – the most important job we have is keeping our children safe.
Since it commenced in 2006, Victoria’s Working with Children Check has supported the protection of children by screening the criminal history information and relevant regulatory and disciplinary findings of people who work with children.
The awful allegations as revealed by Victoria Police a few weeks ago are sickening and demonstrate a real need to ensure that the systems in place to protect children in Victoria are strong and effective.
That is why the Victorian Government has commissioned an urgent review into child safety in early childhood education and care settings and the Working with Children Check. That review will report back on 15 August 2025. This government will adopt every recommendation and implement them as quickly as possible to ensure that any risk of harm to children in Victoria is minimised and that the Working with Children Check is meeting community expectations.
But the government is not waiting for this report to act. On 29 July 2025, the Worker Screening Amendment (Risk of Harm to Children) Regulations 2025 were made, expanding the matters that can result in the assessment of a person’s suitability to hold a Working with Children Check. These new Regulations prescribe additional findings and include prohibition notices issued by the Department of Education’s Quality Assessment and Regulation Division, as well as equivalent notices issued in other states and territories. If a person applies for or holds a Working with Children Check and becomes subject to one of these findings, the Worker Screening Unit will be able to issue an exclusion if that person is assessed as posing an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children.
The Victorian Government supports a national model for Working with Children Checks. We are currently advocating to the Commonwealth to prioritise development of a national approach to Working with Children Checks, including the development of a national database to enable the real-time monitoring of check holders against national criminal information and disciplinary findings.
The Victorian Government will continue to do everything to ensure that our Working with Children Check is robust, reliable and effectively prevents people who pose a risk to our children from working with them.
The Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP
Attorney-General
Related:
> Working with Children Checks – Rachel Payne
> Wrongs Amendment (Vicarious Liability) Bill 2025 Debate speech – Rachel Payne
> Wrongs Amendment (Vicarious Liability) Bill 2025 2nd Reading – Rachel Payne
> Services for survivors of institutional child abuse – Rachel Payne
> Justice access for child sexual abuse victim-survivors – Rachel Payne
