Rachel called on the Victorian Premier to include child abuse prevention education as a mandatory requirement for Working with Children Check applicants.
Wednesday the 5th of February, 2025
Legislative Council of Victoria
RACHEL PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) – To ask the Treasurer (for the Premier):
My adjournment matter is for the Premier, and the action I seek is for child abuse prevention education to be a mandatory requirement of the working with children check.
I understand that the working with children check is the legislative responsibility of the Attorney-General. However, my action sought relates directly to the first national action plan of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030. Former Premier Daniel Andrews signed on to this plan, recognising that every child has the right to be protected and safe from sexual abuse. The first national action plan expired at the end of 2024 and will soon be replaced with a second plan. This gives the Victorian government the perfect opportunity to respond to calls from survivors of child sexual abuse and advocate for a nationally harmonised working with children check that includes mandatory child abuse prevention education. These calls have been led by survivors through the Australian Childhood Foundation’s Our Collective Experience project. It is my hope that the Premier will meet with the Australian Childhood Foundation and project lead, survivor Emma Hakansson, to discuss these proposed reforms further. We must listen to survivors’ knowledge about what they know would help keep them safe.
Survivors should not be left asking why it is harder to get a responsible service of alcohol certificate than it is to be approved to work with children. People working with children must be able to understand child sexual abuse, including the tactics of perpetrators, how to promote children’s rights and voices, indicators of abuse, how to talk to children about concerns and how to respond appropriately to disclosures. The damning truth is that in Australia 30 percent of people over the age of 16 years have endured child sexual abuse. That is almost 4.5 million people who carry that experience with them their whole life, each with their own devastating story. No-one wants to think it could happen to them or someone they know, but it does. Until we act on the calls of survivors, we are failing these children and allowing this abuse to continue.
So I ask: will the Premier commit to calling for a nationally harmonised working with children check that includes mandatory child abuse prevention education as part of the second national action plan?
Response Received, 21st of October 2025:
Following the release of the Rapid Child Safety Review in August 2025, the Victorian Government has announced a child safety overhaul. We have accepted and are implementing all 22 recommendations, including immediate action to strengthen the Working with Children Check and child safety in early childhood education and care settings.
In August 2025, the Victorian Government brought urgent legislation to Parliament to strengthen the Worker Screening Unit. The reformed Victorian Working with Children Check scheme will ensure greater information sharing and transparency so we can take immediate action to protect Victorian children. Children deserve to be safe wherever they learn, play and grow – that’s why we’re strengthening the laws that stop people who pose a risk from working with them.
We are also advocating to the Commonwealth Government and other states and territory governments to develop a national approach to the Working with Children Check laws and advocate for an improved national database that can support real-time monitoring of Working with Children Check holders.
I acknowledge the tireless advocacy of child sexual abuse survivors – particularly through the Australian Childhood Foundation – in calling for a nationally harmonised Working with Children Check scheme.
Hon Jacinta Allan MP
Member for Bendigo East
Premier
Related:
> Justice access for child sexual abuse victim-survivors – Rachel Payne
> Services for survivors of institutional child abuse – Rachel Payne
> Justice for survivors of non-institutional sexual assault – Rachel Payne
> Rise in family violence intervention order breaches – Rachel Payne
